Short Interest in Atyr PHARMA INC (NASDAQ:ATYR) Grows By 25.0%

Atyr PHARMA INC (NASDAQ:ATYR) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,650,000 shares, an increase of 25.0% from the December 31st total of 2,920,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,060,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days. Currently, 4.5% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Atyr PHARMA Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ATYR traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $3.86. The company had a trading volume of 692,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 749,822. Atyr PHARMA has a 12 month low of $1.42 and a 12 month high of $4.22. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $324.01 million, a P/E ratio of -4.11 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $3.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.69.

Atyr PHARMA (NASDAQ:ATYR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.22) by ($0.01). Equities research analysts forecast that Atyr PHARMA will post -0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ATYR. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Atyr PHARMA in a research report on Monday, January 6th. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of Atyr PHARMA in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Atyr PHARMA in a report on Friday, October 4th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Atyr PHARMA currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $19.25.

Institutional Trading of Atyr PHARMA

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alterna Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Atyr PHARMA during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Atyr PHARMA by 52.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 31,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 10,754 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. purchased a new position in Atyr PHARMA in the 4th quarter worth $141,000. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Atyr PHARMA in the fourth quarter worth $170,000. Institutional investors own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

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.