Atea Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVIR) Trading Down 2% – Time to Sell?

Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVIR) fell 2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $3.98 and last traded at $4.02. 513,477 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 532,669 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.10.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on AVIR shares. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.00.

Atea Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $314.07 million, a PE ratio of -2.27 and a beta of 0.24.

Atea Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVIR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.53) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.46) by ($0.07). Analysts forecast that Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals by 80.4% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 102,607 shares of the company’s stock valued at $307,000 after buying an additional 45,716 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new position in Atea Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $55,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth $123,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its holdings in Atea Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 119,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 2,977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 173,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $626,000 after buying an additional 10,930 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.67% of the company’s stock.

About Atea Pharmaceuticals

Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of oral antiviral therapeutics targeting RNA viruses. The company’s lead program, AT-527, is a direct-acting nucleotide prodrug licensed from Roche and is being evaluated as a potential treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In addition to its COVID-19 efforts, Atea’s pipeline includes other small-molecule candidates for hepatitis C virus and emerging RNA pathogens, leveraging its proprietary nucleotide chemistry platform to address significant unmet medical needs in infectious diseases.

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Atea operates research laboratories in the Greater Boston area and conducts clinical studies across North America, Europe and parts of Asia.