Short Interest in AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) Rises By 9.4%

AtriCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATRC) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,250,000 shares, an increase of 9.4% from the March 15th total of 2,970,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 668,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.9 days.

Insider Activity at AtriCure

In related news, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.39, for a total value of $45,585.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 72,784 shares in the company, valued at $2,211,905.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other AtriCure news, insider Justin J. Noznesky sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.39, for a total transaction of $45,585.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 72,784 shares in the company, valued at $2,211,905.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Karl S. Dahlquist sold 8,231 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.36, for a total value of $307,510.16. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 52,839 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,974,065.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,116 shares of company stock worth $468,797 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ATRC. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in AtriCure by 17.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,865,409 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $188,171,000 after purchasing an additional 427,792 shares during the period. First Light Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in AtriCure by 35.8% in the 1st quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 1,364,812 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $89,627,000 after purchasing an additional 359,823 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AtriCure in the 4th quarter valued at $15,621,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in AtriCure by 41.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 981,165 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $48,430,000 after purchasing an additional 286,481 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in AtriCure by 366.4% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 342,987 shares of the medical device company’s stock valued at $16,930,000 after purchasing an additional 269,454 shares during the period. 99.11% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ATRC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of AtriCure in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on AtriCure from $50.00 to $42.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on AtriCure from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AtriCure from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AtriCure currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.57.

AtriCure Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ATRC opened at $23.10 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.57, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. AtriCure has a 12 month low of $22.42 and a 12 month high of $59.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $31.60 and a 200-day moving average of $34.72. The company has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.20 and a beta of 1.38.

AtriCure (NASDAQ:ATRC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The medical device company reported ($0.21) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.01. AtriCure had a negative return on equity of 7.55% and a negative net margin of 7.62%. The company had revenue of $106.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $103.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.09) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that AtriCure will post -0.71 EPS for the current year.

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.