Short Interest in AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) Drops By 6.5%

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,300,000 shares, a drop of 6.5% from the May 31st total of 3,530,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 796,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on ATRC shares. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of AtriCure from $46.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded AtriCure from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on AtriCure from $57.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of AtriCure from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of AtriCure from $42.00 to $34.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, AtriCure presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.78.

AtriCure Stock Performance

Shares of AtriCure stock opened at $22.45 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.83 and a current ratio of 4.00. AtriCure has a one year low of $18.94 and a one year high of $59.61. The company has a market cap of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of -28.06 and a beta of 1.44.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The medical device company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.02). AtriCure had a negative return on equity of 7.85% and a negative net margin of 8.98%. The firm had revenue of $108.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.86 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.23) EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that AtriCure will post -0.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Salvatore Privitera purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $22.25 per share, with a total value of $111,250.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 103,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,298,202.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other AtriCure news, insider Salvatore Privitera purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $22.25 per share, with a total value of $111,250.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 103,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,298,202.50. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.09, for a total value of $36,135.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 71,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,717,231.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of AtriCure

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ATRC. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of AtriCure by 127.9% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 116,990 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $5,124,000 after acquiring an additional 65,653 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in AtriCure by 69.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 102,429 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $4,486,000 after purchasing an additional 41,994 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of AtriCure by 37.7% during the 3rd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 17,146 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $750,000 after buying an additional 4,697 shares during the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP boosted its holdings in shares of AtriCure by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 32,167 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after buying an additional 4,093 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in shares of AtriCure by 23.7% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 101,197 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $4,432,000 after buying an additional 19,356 shares during the last quarter. 99.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AtriCure Company Profile

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.