aTyr Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATYR) Shares Shorted: Short Interest Down 97.1% in October

aTyr Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATYR) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in October. As of October 30th, there was short interest totaling 293,448 shares, a decrease of 97.1% from the October 15th total of 10,273,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 87,073 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days. Approximately 12.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On aTyr Pharma

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in aTyr Pharma stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of aTyr Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATYR) by 139.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 303,559 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 176,859 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.31% of aTyr Pharma worth $237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

aTyr Pharma Stock Performance

ATYR traded down $0.02 on Tuesday, reaching $7.56. 113,224 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 108,835. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $11.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.37. aTyr Pharma has a fifty-two week low of $4.07 and a fifty-two week high of $44.40.

aTyr Pharma (NASDAQ:ATYR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported ($7.43) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($4.00) by ($3.43). The firm had revenue of $235.23 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 million. As a group, research analysts predict that aTyr Pharma will post -22.96 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of aTyr Pharma to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of aTyr Pharma from $1.00 to $4.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on shares of aTyr Pharma to $6.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Freedom Broker cut shares of aTyr Pharma from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of aTyr Pharma from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.00.

About aTyr Pharma

aTyr Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATYR) is a biotechnology company focused on developing therapies that modulate immune system activity. The company’s research is based on a class of naturally occurring proteins known as extracellular tRNA synthetases, which can influence biological processes involved in inflammation, tissue repair and immune regulation. aTyr’s lead product candidate is efzofitimod, an engineered protein therapeutic designed to target neuropilin-2 and regulate immune responses in the lungs.