AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,250,000 shares, a decrease of 31.6% from the October 15th total of 3,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 586,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.8 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI bought a new stake in AtriCure during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Comerica Bank lifted its position in AtriCure by 70.5% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,522 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC boosted its stake in AtriCure by 733.3% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $140,000 after buying an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in AtriCure by 38.3% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,868 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $134,000 after acquiring an additional 1,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of AtriCure during the first quarter worth approximately $224,000. 99.11% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AtriCure Price Performance

AtriCure stock opened at $35.03 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.34. AtriCure has a 52 week low of $18.94 and a 52 week high of $43.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -42.20 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.59, a current ratio of 3.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The medical device company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.02. AtriCure had a negative net margin of 8.70% and a negative return on equity of 8.12%. The company had revenue of $115.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $112.23 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.20) earnings per share. AtriCure’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that AtriCure will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on ATRC shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on AtriCure from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. BTIG Research dropped their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $58.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of AtriCure from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of AtriCure from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report 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. According to MarketBeat, AtriCure presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.11.

AtriCure Company Profile

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.