Short Interest in AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) Decreases By 5.3%

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,600,000 shares, a decrease of 5.3% from the November 30th total of 1,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 508,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days.

AtriCure Price Performance

Shares of ATRC stock traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $30.51. 56,415 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 684,000. 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 company has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.76 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $33.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.91. AtriCure has a fifty-two week low of $18.94 and a fifty-two week high of $39.04.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The medical device company reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.02. AtriCure had a negative return on equity of 8.12% and a negative net margin of 8.70%. The company had revenue of $115.91 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $112.23 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.20) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that AtriCure will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Arcadia Investment Management Corp MI bought a new stake in AtriCure in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. nVerses Capital LLC raised its position in shares of AtriCure by 733.3% in the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 5,000 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $140,000 after acquiring an additional 4,400 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in AtriCure by 38.3% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 5,868 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $134,000 after acquiring an additional 1,626 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in AtriCure during the third quarter valued at approximately $230,000. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in AtriCure by 32.1% in the second quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,743 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.11% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ATRC shares. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of AtriCure from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on AtriCure from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on AtriCure from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of AtriCure from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of AtriCure from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.00.

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.