Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRS) Short Interest Update

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACRS has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. HC Wainwright raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. Leerink Partners raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $2.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $3.00 to $13.00 in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $11.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aclaris Therapeutics news, Director Anand Mehra acquired 666,666 shares of Aclaris Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 113.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 397,362 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $985,000 after buying an additional 211,585 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $974,000 after buying an additional 72,309 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at $1,053,000. Stonepine Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $2,828,000 after buying an additional 531,427 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 187.6% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 332,406 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 216,826 shares in the last quarter. 98.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Aclaris Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of ACRS stock opened at $2.57 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $3.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.94. Aclaris Therapeutics has a one year low of $0.95 and a one year high of $5.17. The stock has a market cap of $183.58 million, a P/E ratio of -4.94 and a beta of 0.54.

Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS) last released 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). Aclaris Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 40.26% and a negative net margin of 136.65%. The company had revenue of $4.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.31 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Aclaris Therapeutics will post -0.81 EPS 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.