Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVIR) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVIR) saw a significant growth in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,830,000 shares, a growth of 13.7% from the August 15th total of 2,490,000 shares. Approximately 3.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 233,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 12.1 days.

Atea Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ AVIR traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $3.89. 210,686 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 324,194. Atea Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $2.77 and a 12 month high of $4.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $327.63 million, a PE ratio of -1.98 and a beta of 0.18. The company has a 50 day moving average of $3.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.73.

Atea Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVIR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.76) by $0.28. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.34) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Atea Pharmaceuticals will post -2.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AVIR. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $2.00 to $6.88 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. William Blair upgraded shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 30th.

Insider Transactions at Atea Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Bruce Polsky sold 17,544 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.49, for a total value of $61,228.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,606 shares in the company, valued at $228,964.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 17.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AVIR. BML Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. BML Capital Management LLC now owns 5,536,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,368,000 after acquiring an additional 74,631 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,722,522 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,079,000 after acquiring an additional 122,812 shares during the period. Almitas Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,271,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,141,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,778,000 after acquiring an additional 18,100 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 672,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,719,000 after acquiring an additional 122,447 shares during the period. 86.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Atea Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes antiviral therapeutics for patients with viral infections. Its lead product candidate is AT-527, an oral antiviral candidate that is in Phase 3 SUNRISE-3 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with COVID-19.