aTyr Pharma Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:ATYR)

aTyr Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATYR) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 9,984 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 325% compared to the average daily volume of 2,351 put options.

aTyr Pharma Stock Down 5.7%

Shares of ATYR opened at $4.94 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $439.66 million, a P/E ratio of -6.10 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $4.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 7.79 and a quick ratio of 7.79. aTyr Pharma has a 1 year low of $1.67 and a 1 year high of $7.29.

aTyr Pharma (NASDAQ:ATYR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by $0.02. On average, analysts forecast that aTyr Pharma will post -0.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ATYR. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of aTyr Pharma in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on aTyr Pharma from $17.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.20.

Institutional Trading of aTyr Pharma

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ATYR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in aTyr Pharma by 467.8% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 178,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $646,000 after purchasing an additional 147,092 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new stake in aTyr Pharma in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $881,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in aTyr Pharma in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $144,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in aTyr Pharma in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $330,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in aTyr Pharma in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $720,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

About aTyr Pharma

aTyr Pharma, Inc engages in the discovery and development of medicines based on novel biological pathways. Its product pipeline includes ATYR1923, ATYR2810, NRP2 mAbs, and AARS-1, DARS-1. The company was founded by Paul Schimmel, Xiang-Lei Yang and Bruce Beutler on September 8, 2005 and is headquartered in San Diego, CA.