Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRS) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRS) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,480,000 shares, an increase of 59.0% from the November 15th total of 1,560,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,210,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Insider Activity at Aclaris Therapeutics

In related news, Director Anand Mehra acquired 666,666 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $2.25 per share, for a total transaction of $1,499,998.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 710,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,597,567.50. The trade was a 1,537.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Aclaris Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 846,446 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 72,309 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,053,000. Stonepine Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Aclaris Therapeutics by 27.6% in the third quarter. Stonepine Capital Management LLC now owns 2,458,873 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,828,000 after purchasing an additional 531,427 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Aclaris Therapeutics by 187.6% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 332,406 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 216,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BML Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 9.7% during the third quarter. BML Capital Management LLC now owns 14,250,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $16,388,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261,866 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ACRS shares. Piper Sandler raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $3.00 to $13.00 in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Leerink Partners raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $2.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Aclaris Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. BTIG Research raised shares of Aclaris Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Aclaris Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $8.80.

Aclaris Therapeutics Stock Performance

ACRS opened at $3.27 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $2.46 and a 200-day moving average of $1.64. Aclaris Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $0.80 and a 52-week high of $5.17. The company has a market cap of $233.58 million, a PE ratio of -6.29 and a beta of 0.45.

Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $4.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.31 million. Aclaris Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 40.26% and a negative net margin of 136.65%. On average, research analysts predict that Aclaris Therapeutics will post -0.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Aclaris Therapeutics Company Profile

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.