Short Interest in AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) Declines By 25.8%

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,670,000 shares, a decrease of 25.8% from the October 31st total of 2,250,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 567,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AtriCure

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of AtriCure during the first quarter worth about $344,000. Comerica Bank grew its holdings in AtriCure by 70.5% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,522 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in shares of AtriCure by 4.7% during the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 34,980 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $796,000 after buying an additional 1,558 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of AtriCure by 8.2% during the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 309,547 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $7,048,000 after acquiring an additional 23,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighMark Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of AtriCure by 664.1% during the second quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 69,725 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $1,588,000 after acquiring an additional 60,600 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on AtriCure from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on AtriCure from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on AtriCure from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on AtriCure from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AtriCure currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.11.

AtriCure Stock Performance

Shares of ATRC stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $36.16. 333,227 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 713,326. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $31.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.27. The company has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -43.57 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.62 and a quick ratio of 2.59. AtriCure has a 12-month low of $18.94 and a 12-month high of $39.04.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The medical device company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $115.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $112.23 million. AtriCure had a negative net margin of 8.70% and a negative return on equity of 8.12%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.20) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that AtriCure will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About AtriCure

AtriCure, Inc develops, manufactures, and sells devices for surgical ablation of cardiac tissue, exclusion of the left atrial appendage, and temporarily blocking pain by ablating peripheral nerves to medical centers in the United States, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers Isolator Synergy Clamps, single-use disposable radio frequency products; multifunctional pens and linear ablation devices, such as the MAX Pen device that enables surgeons to evaluate cardiac arrhythmias, perform temporary cardiac pacing, sensing, and stimulation, and ablate cardiac tissue with the same device; and the Coolrail device, which enables users to make longer linear lines of ablation.