Analysts Set aTyr Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATYR) PT at $23.25

Key Points

• aTyr Pharma, Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from six brokerages, with an average 1-year target price of $23.25.
• Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target for aTyr Pharma from $9.00 to $17.00, while Wells Fargo increased theirs from $17.00 to $25.00.
• The company's recent quarterly earnings showed an EPS of ($0.22), missing analysts' expectations, with forecasts suggesting a total EPS of (-0.91) for the current year.

aTyr Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATYR - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $23.25.

ATYR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of aTyr Pharma from $17.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on aTyr Pharma from $9.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut aTyr Pharma from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of aTyr Pharma in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oxford Asset Management LLP bought a new position in aTyr Pharma in the second quarter valued at $70,000. Octagon Capital Advisors LP boosted its position in aTyr Pharma by 7.5% during the second quarter. Octagon Capital Advisors LP now owns 3,820,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,367,000 after buying an additional 268,000 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets purchased a new stake in aTyr Pharma during the second quarter valued at about $99,000. California State Teachers Retirement System purchased a new stake in aTyr Pharma during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in aTyr Pharma by 79.3% during the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 24,839 shares of the company's stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 10,989 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 61.72% of the company's stock.

aTyr Pharma Stock Performance

aTyr Pharma stock traded down $0.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $5.17. The stock had a trading volume of 2,112,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,607,003. The stock has a market cap of $506.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.45 and a beta of 1.01. The stock's 50 day moving average is $5.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.35. aTyr Pharma has a 1 year low of $1.67 and a 1 year high of $7.29. The company has a quick ratio of 5.63, a current ratio of 5.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

aTyr Pharma (NASDAQ:ATYR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.04). As a group, analysts predict that aTyr Pharma will post -0.91 EPS for the current year.

aTyr Pharma Company Profile

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.