Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACRS) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $11.00.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BTIG Research upgraded Aclaris Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $8.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Leerink Partners upgraded Aclaris Therapeutics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $2.00 to $7.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Piper Sandler upgraded Aclaris Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $3.00 to $13.00 in a report on Monday, November 18th. StockNews.com lowered Aclaris Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Aclaris Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $2.00 to $7.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Anand Mehra acquired 666,666 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $2.25 per share, for a total transaction of $1,499,998.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 710,030 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,597,567.50. This trade represents a 1,537.37 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Aclaris Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in Aclaris Therapeutics by 1.9% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,336,850 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,671,000 after acquiring an additional 63,358 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Aclaris Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at $214,000. BML Capital Management LLC grew its position in 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 valued at $16,388,000 after acquiring an additional 1,261,866 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 216,826 shares during the period. Finally, Stonepine Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 valued at $2,828,000 after acquiring an additional 531,427 shares during the period. 98.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Aclaris Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Aclaris Therapeutics stock opened at $2.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $173.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.67 and a beta of 0.50. Aclaris Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $0.95 and a 52-week high of $5.17. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $2.05.

Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.11) earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.31 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Aclaris Therapeutics will post -0.86 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.