Short Interest in Atyr PHARMA INC (NASDAQ:ATYR) Rises By 31.6%

Atyr PHARMA INC (NASDAQ:ATYR) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,920,000 shares, an increase of 31.6% from the February 28th total of 5,260,000 shares. Currently, 8.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,260,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on ATYR. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Atyr PHARMA in a research report on Monday, January 6th. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Atyr PHARMA to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Leerink Partners started coverage on Atyr PHARMA in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $16.00 price objective for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Atyr PHARMA in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Atyr PHARMA has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $18.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ATYR. Federated Hermes Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Atyr PHARMA in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,093,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Atyr PHARMA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $17,677,000. Tikvah Management LLC purchased a new position in Atyr PHARMA in the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,908,000. Woodline Partners LP acquired a new position in Atyr PHARMA during the 4th quarter worth approximately $6,092,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Atyr PHARMA in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,628,000. 61.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Atyr PHARMA Price Performance

ATYR stock opened at $3.03 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $3.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.20. Atyr PHARMA has a 12-month low of $1.42 and a 12-month high of $4.66. The company has a market capitalization of $268.80 million, a PE ratio of -3.19 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a current ratio of 5.41, a quick ratio of 5.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Atyr PHARMA (NASDAQ:ATYR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by $0.05. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Atyr PHARMA will post -0.91 EPS for the current year.

About Atyr PHARMA

aTyr Pharma, Inc engages in the discovery and development of medicines based on novel biological pathways. Its product pipeline includes ATYR1923, ATYR2810, NRP2 mAbs, and AARS-1, DARS-1. The company was founded by Paul Schimmel, Xiang-Lei Yang and Bruce Beutler on September 8, 2005 and is headquartered in San Diego, CA.