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

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,670,000 shares, a decrease of 25.8% from the October 31st total of 2,250,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 567,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ATRC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on AtriCure from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on AtriCure from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com upgraded AtriCure from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $41.00.

AtriCure Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ATRC traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $36.16. The stock had a trading volume of 333,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 713,326. The company has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.57 and a beta of 1.41. AtriCure has a twelve month low of $18.94 and a twelve month high of $39.04. The business’s fifty day moving average is $31.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.62 and a quick ratio of 2.59.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The medical device company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $112.23 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.20) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that AtriCure will post -0.72 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ATRC. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of AtriCure by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 56,843 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $1,569,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in AtriCure by 4.0% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,542 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $308,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its position in AtriCure by 4.0% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 21,441 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 831 shares during the period. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI acquired a new position in AtriCure during the third quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in shares of AtriCure by 70.5% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,522 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.11% of the company’s stock.

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.