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

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,250,000 shares, a decline of 31.6% from the October 15th total of 3,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 586,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.8 days.

Institutional Trading of AtriCure

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of AtriCure by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,542 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in AtriCure by 8.5% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 8,371 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased 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 worth $488,000 after buying an additional 831 shares in the last quarter. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI purchased a new stake in AtriCure in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Comerica Bank raised its stake in shares of AtriCure by 70.5% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,522 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the period. 99.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

AtriCure Price Performance

NASDAQ ATRC opened at $36.20 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.61 and a beta of 1.41. AtriCure has a 1-year low of $18.94 and a 1-year high of $43.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.62 and a quick ratio of 2.59. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $29.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.27.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The medical device company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $115.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $112.23 million. AtriCure had a negative return on equity of 8.12% and a negative net margin of 8.70%. AtriCure’s revenue was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.20) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that AtriCure will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ATRC. BTIG Research cut their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $58.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of AtriCure from $65.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of AtriCure from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on AtriCure from $30.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on AtriCure from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AtriCure has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $43.11.

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.