Short Interest in Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVIR) Drops By 12.9%

Atea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVIR) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,770,000 shares, a decrease of 12.9% from the December 15th total of 3,180,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 309,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.0 days. Currently, 3.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Atea Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ AVIR traded up $0.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $3.37. 337,674 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 471,099. The stock has a market cap of $284.63 million, a P/E ratio of -1.63 and a beta of 0.20. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.46. Atea Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $2.75 and a 12-month high of $4.60.

Atea Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVIR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported ($0.37) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.50) by $0.13. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.40) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Atea Pharmaceuticals will post -2.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Franklin M. Berger sold 359,606 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.85, for a total value of $1,024,877.10. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 451,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,287,906.45. This represents a 44.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 17.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Atea Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in Atea Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Atea Pharmaceuticals by 64.1% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 16,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 6,343 shares in the last quarter. Zacks Investment Management acquired a new stake in Atea Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $99,000. 86.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.