AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) Short Interest Down 5.3% in December

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,600,000 shares, a drop of 5.3% from the November 30th total of 1,690,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 508,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.1 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATRC. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in AtriCure by 0.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 56,843 shares of the medical device company's stock valued at $1,569,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AtriCure by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,152,628 shares of the medical device company's stock valued at $32,326,000 after purchasing an additional 32,676 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of AtriCure in the 3rd quarter worth about $614,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of AtriCure by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,543,896 shares of the medical device company's stock worth $43,291,000 after purchasing an additional 6,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its holdings in AtriCure by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 664,100 shares of the medical device company's stock valued at $18,621,000 after purchasing an additional 84,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.11% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ATRC has been the topic of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on AtriCure from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of AtriCure in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com upgraded AtriCure from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on AtriCure from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on 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 eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AtriCure has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.00.

AtriCure Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ATRC traded up $0.31 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $30.56. 231,388 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 684,704. The company has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.82 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 2.59 and a current ratio of 3.62. AtriCure has a 1-year low of $18.94 and a 1-year high of $39.04. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $33.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.97.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The medical device company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $115.91 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $112.23 million. AtriCure had a negative net margin of 8.70% and a negative return on equity of 8.12%. The business'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 posted ($0.20) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that AtriCure will post -0.72 EPS 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.