aTyr Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATYR) Stock Short Interest Drops 97.1%

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ATYR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of aTyr Pharma to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of aTyr Pharma from $1.00 to $4.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 6th. Freedom Broker lowered shares of aTyr Pharma from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 6th. 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 report on Friday, November 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of aTyr Pharma from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, aTyr Pharma has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.00.

aTyr Pharma Stock Performance

aTyr Pharma stock opened at $7.56 on Wednesday. aTyr Pharma has a 52-week low of $4.07 and a 52-week high of $44.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $11.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.37.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On aTyr Pharma

An institutional investor recently raised its position in aTyr Pharma stock. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of aTyr Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATYR) by 139.6% in the first 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 0.31% of aTyr Pharma worth $237,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

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.