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

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Atea Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $324.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.34 and a beta of 0.24.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Atea Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Atea Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 119,420 shares of the company’s stock valued at $430,000 after buying an additional 2,977 shares during the period. Peapod Lane Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC now owns 457,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 4,748 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in Atea Pharmaceuticals by 57.7% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 19,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 7,286 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Atea Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 10,930 shares during the period. 86.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Atea Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.