aTyr Pharma Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:ATYR)

Key Points

• aTyr Pharma saw a significant spike in options trading with an increase of approximately 325% as traders bought nearly 10,000 put options on the stock.
• The stock price of aTyr Pharma dropped 12% in one day, closing at $5.42 with a high trading volume of over 6 million shares.
• Despite the stock's recent decline, several analysts maintain a positive outlook, with an average target price of $20.20 and multiple buy ratings from research firms.

aTyr Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATYR - Get Free Report) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 9,984 put options on the company. Thisisanincreaseofapproximately325% compared to the average daily volume of 2,351 put options.

Institutional Trading of aTyr Pharma

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATYR. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in aTyr Pharma by 46.0% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 382,317 shares of the company's stock worth $1,155,000 after buying an additional 120,496 shares during the last quarter. Octagon Capital Advisors LP raised its stake in aTyr Pharma by 294.7% in the 1st quarter. Octagon Capital Advisors LP now owns 3,552,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,727,000 after acquiring an additional 2,652,000 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in aTyr Pharma by 334.5% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,599,041 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,829,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,052 shares during the last quarter. Ally Bridge Group NY LLC boosted its position in aTyr Pharma by 11.0% during the first quarter. Ally Bridge Group NY LLC now owns 777,020 shares of the company's stock worth $2,347,000 after purchasing an additional 77,290 shares during the period. Finally, MAI Capital Management boosted its position in aTyr Pharma by 306,100.0% during the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 658,330 shares of the company's stock worth $1,988,000 after purchasing an additional 658,115 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.72% of the company's stock.

aTyr Pharma Stock Performance

Shares of ATYR stock traded down $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $4.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,252,912 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,744,474. The company has a current ratio of 7.79, a quick ratio of 7.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market cap of $418.30 million, a PE ratio of -5.80 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average of $5.23 and a 200-day moving average of $4.06. aTyr Pharma has a 52 week low of $1.67 and a 52 week high of $7.29.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on ATYR. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of aTyr Pharma from $17.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, June 20th. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of aTyr Pharma in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $20.20.

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.