Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Leerink Partnrs

Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS) was upgraded by investment analysts at Leerink Partnrs from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $3.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Monday. Leerink Partners raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $2.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $2.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Tuesday. BTIG Research raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $8.80.

Aclaris Therapeutics Stock Down 13.7 %

Aclaris Therapeutics stock opened at $3.96 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $1.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.34. The stock has a market cap of $282.86 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.23 and a beta of 0.10. Aclaris Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $0.77 and a 12-month high of $5.17.

Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.03). Aclaris Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 136.65% and a negative return on equity of 40.26%. The firm had revenue of $4.35 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.31 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aclaris Therapeutics will post -0.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Anand Mehra acquired 666,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $2.25 per share, for a total transaction of $1,499,998.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 710,030 shares in the company, valued at $1,597,567.50. This represents a 1,537.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 6.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Aclaris Therapeutics by 69.5% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 32,843 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 13,461 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in Aclaris Therapeutics by 5,265.1% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 62,772 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 61,602 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Aclaris Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $119,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Aclaris Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Aclaris Therapeutics by 10.9% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 241,101 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 23,747 shares in the last quarter. 98.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Aclaris Therapeutics

Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of novel drug candidates for immune-inflammatory diseases in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Therapeutics and Contract Research. The Therapeutics segment is involved in identifying and developing therapies to address significant unmet needs for immuno-inflammatory diseases.