Athira Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHA) Short Interest Up 66.2% in September

Athira Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHA) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,650,000 shares, a growth of 66.2% from the August 31st total of 992,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 714,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days. Approximately 4.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Athira Pharma

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Athira Pharma by 84.1% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 497,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after acquiring an additional 227,278 shares in the last quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC boosted its position in Athira Pharma by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 5,402,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,129,000 after buying an additional 605,686 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Athira Pharma by 281.5% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 549,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,505,000 after acquiring an additional 405,793 shares in the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Athira Pharma during the first quarter worth approximately $57,000. Finally, Forefront Analytics LLC increased its stake in shares of Athira Pharma by 43.0% during the fourth quarter. Forefront Analytics LLC now owns 29,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 8,955 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BTIG Research lowered Athira Pharma from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Mizuho lowered shares of Athira Pharma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $5.00 to $0.50 in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Rodman & Renshaw cut shares of Athira Pharma from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, JMP Securities cut shares of Athira Pharma from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th.

Athira Pharma Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ATHA traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $0.44. 423,479 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 454,378. Athira Pharma has a twelve month low of $0.41 and a twelve month high of $4.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.08 million, a P/E ratio of -0.15 and a beta of 2.90. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.21 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.40.

Athira Pharma (NASDAQ:ATHA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported ($0.70) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.75) by $0.05. On average, research analysts expect that Athira Pharma will post -2.57 earnings per share for the current year.

About Athira Pharma

Athira Pharma, Inc, a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing small molecules to restore neuronal health and slow neurodegradation. Its lead product candidate is Fosgonimeton (ATH-1017), a small molecule designed to modulate the neurotrophic hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) system and its receptor, MET, for a healthy nervous system that is in LIFT-AD Phase 2/3 and ACT-AD Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, as well as is in Phase 2 clinical trials to treat Parkinson's disease dementia and Dementia with Lewy bodies.