Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRS) Short Interest Up 12.7% in January

Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRS) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,560,000 shares, a growth of 12.7% from the December 31st total of 3,160,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Anand Mehra purchased 666,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $2.25 per share, with a total value of $1,499,998.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 710,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,597,567.50. This represents a 1,537.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aclaris Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Aclaris Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at $119,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $214,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 187.6% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 332,406 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 216,826 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 9.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 846,446 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $974,000 after buying an additional 72,309 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Peapod Lane Capital LLC bought a new stake in Aclaris Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,003,000. 98.34% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACRS. Leerink Partnrs raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Aclaris Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Aclaris Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Aclaris Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $2.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Aclaris Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $11.00.

Aclaris Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of Aclaris Therapeutics stock opened at $2.48 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.15 million, a PE ratio of -4.77 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.01. Aclaris Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $0.95 and a 52-week high of $5.17.

Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $4.35 million during 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aclaris Therapeutics will post -0.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.