Atyr PHARMA INC (NASDAQ:ATYR) Short Interest Up 55.5% in September

Atyr PHARMA INC (NASDAQ:ATYR) saw a large growth in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 685,800 shares, a growth of 55.5% from the August 31st total of 440,900 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 371,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Atyr PHARMA Price Performance

ATYR stock opened at $1.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 7.63 and a quick ratio of 7.63. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.88. Atyr PHARMA has a 12 month low of $1.08 and a 12 month high of $2.50. The stock has a market cap of $134.17 million, a P/E ratio of -1.97 and a beta of 1.22.

Atyr PHARMA (NASDAQ:ATYR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.01. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Atyr PHARMA will post -0.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Atyr PHARMA

In other Atyr PHARMA news, Director Paul Schimmel purchased 41,052 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $1.74 per share, with a total value of $71,430.48. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 354,075 shares in the company, valued at $616,090.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ATYR shares. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Atyr PHARMA in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $9.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Atyr PHARMA in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of Atyr PHARMA in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th.

Atyr PHARMA Company Profile

aTyr Pharma, Inc, a biotherapeutics company, engages in the discovery and development of medicines based on novel immunological pathways in the United States. Its lead therapeutic candidate is efzofitimod, a selective modulator of NRP2 that is in Phase III clinical trial for pulmonary sarcoidosis; and in Phase 1b/2a clinical trial for treatment of other interstitial lung diseases (ILDs), such as chronic hypersensitivity pneumonitis and connective tissue disease related ILD.