Atyr PHARMA INC (NASDAQ:ATYR) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Atyr PHARMA INC (NASDAQ:ATYR - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,030,000 shares, a growth of 20.6% from the March 31st total of 8,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,390,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 7.2 days. Currently, 11.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atyr PHARMA

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Group One Trading LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Atyr PHARMA in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Alterna Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Atyr PHARMA in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Atyr PHARMA during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Atyr PHARMA in the 1st quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Atyr PHARMA during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 61.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Atyr PHARMA Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of ATYR stock traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $3.28. 833,079 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,295,463. The company has a current ratio of 5.41, a quick ratio of 5.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.46 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.49 and a beta of 0.79. Atyr PHARMA has a 12-month low of $1.42 and a 12-month high of $4.66. The company's 50-day moving average price is $3.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.40.

Atyr PHARMA (NASDAQ:ATYR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.02. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Atyr PHARMA will post -0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ATYR. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Atyr PHARMA to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Atyr PHARMA in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Atyr PHARMA in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $16.00 price objective for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Atyr PHARMA presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $18.60.

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.