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

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,600,000 shares, a drop 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AtriCure

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hood River Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AtriCure during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,422,000. First Light Asset Management LLC grew its position in AtriCure by 42.1% during the second quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 1,964,703 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $44,736,000 after buying an additional 581,843 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in AtriCure by 132.5% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 952,765 shares of the medical device company’s stock worth $21,694,000 after acquiring an additional 543,023 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in AtriCure by 151.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 229,130 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $6,425,000 after acquiring an additional 138,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its position in shares of AtriCure by 31.5% during the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 500,649 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $14,038,000 after acquiring an additional 119,929 shares during the period. 99.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ATRC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on AtriCure from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective 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. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of AtriCure from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of AtriCure from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded AtriCure from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.00.

AtriCure Stock Performance

AtriCure stock traded up $0.26 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $30.51. The company had a trading volume of 56,415 shares, compared to its average volume of 684,000. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $33.53 and a 200 day moving average of $27.91. 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 firm has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of -36.76 and a beta of 1.40. AtriCure has a one year low of $18.94 and a one year high of $39.04.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The medical device company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business 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 posted ($0.20) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AtriCure will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current year.

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.