HC Wainwright Reaffirms Buy Rating for Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS)

Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at HC Wainwright in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $43.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 478.73% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com began coverage on Aclaris Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Aclaris Therapeutics from $16.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.20.

Aclaris Therapeutics Stock Down 1.6 %

ACRS stock opened at $7.43 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $525.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.79 and a beta of 0.65. Aclaris Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $5.77 and a twelve month high of $18.96. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.85.

Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.45) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.90 million. Aclaris Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 337.90% and a negative return on equity of 54.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.31) EPS. Research analysts expect that Aclaris Therapeutics will post -1.82 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Aclaris Therapeutics

In other news, insider James Loerop bought 14,705 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $6.80 per share, for a total transaction of $99,994.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 21,688 shares in the company, valued at approximately $147,478.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Joseph Monahan sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.32, for a total transaction of $43,920.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 135,724 shares in the company, valued at $993,499.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider James Loerop acquired 14,705 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 28th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $6.80 per share, with a total value of $99,994.00. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 21,688 shares in the company, valued at approximately $147,478.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 5.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Aclaris Therapeutics by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 112,600 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,773,000 after buying an additional 2,100 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 405,568 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,388,000 after buying an additional 33,061 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 305.4% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 29,843 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 22,482 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 948.6% during the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 176,650 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,429,000 after buying an additional 159,804 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ovata Capital Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $121,000.

About Aclaris Therapeutics

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