Short Interest in Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRS) Increases By 27.4%

Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRS) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,160,000 shares, a growth of 27.4% from the November 30th total of 2,480,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,330,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Insider Activity

In other 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 price of $2.25 per share, for a total transaction of $1,499,998.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 710,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,597,567.50. The trade was a 1,537.37 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aclaris Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 216,826 shares during the last quarter. BML Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 9.7% in the third quarter. BML Capital Management LLC now owns 14,250,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $16,388,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261,866 shares during the last quarter. Stonepine Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,120,000. Trium Capital LLP bought a new stake in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,081,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Aclaris Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,053,000. Institutional investors own 98.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on ACRS shares. Leerink Partnrs upgraded Aclaris Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Leerink Partners raised shares of Aclaris Therapeutics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $2.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Aclaris Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Aclaris Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $3.00 to $13.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Aclaris Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $11.00.

Aclaris Therapeutics Stock Down 6.2 %

Shares of Aclaris Therapeutics stock opened at $2.73 on Friday. Aclaris Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $0.86 and a 12-month high of $5.17. The company has a market capitalization of $195.01 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.25 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $2.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $1.80.

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 return on equity of 40.26% and a negative net margin of 136.65%. The firm had revenue of $4.35 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.31 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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.