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

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

Atyr PHARMA Stock Performance

Atyr PHARMA stock traded up $0.29 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $3.75. 1,655,411 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,073,541. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $3.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 5.41 and a quick ratio of 5.41. The company has a market cap of $314.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.99 and a beta of 1.08. Atyr PHARMA has a fifty-two week low of $1.39 and a fifty-two week high of $4.22.

Atyr PHARMA (NASDAQ:ATYR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.01). As a group, equities analysts expect that Atyr PHARMA will post -0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Atyr PHARMA stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Atyr PHARMA INC (NASDAQ:ATYR - Free Report) by 52.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 31,440 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,754 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s holdings in Atyr PHARMA were worth $55,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors own 61.72% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ATYR. 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. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Atyr PHARMA in a research report on Monday, January 6th. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Atyr PHARMA in a research note on Friday, October 4th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $19.25.

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.

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