Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS) Upgraded at Leerink Partners

Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS) was upgraded by analysts at Leerink Partners from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $7.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $2.00. Leerink Partners’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 76.77% from the company’s previous close.

ACRS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. HC Wainwright restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Aclaris Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Aclaris Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. 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 research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Aclaris Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $2.00 to $7.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded 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 note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.80.

Aclaris Therapeutics Stock Down 13.7 %

Aclaris Therapeutics stock opened at $3.96 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $1.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $1.34. The firm has a market cap of $282.86 million, a P/E ratio of -7.23 and a beta of 0.10. Aclaris Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $0.77 and a twelve month high of $5.17.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $4.35 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.31 million. Aclaris Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 40.26% and a negative net margin of 136.65%. Equities analysts expect that Aclaris Therapeutics will post -0.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aclaris Therapeutics news, Director Anand Mehra bought 666,666 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $2.25 per share, for a total transaction of $1,499,998.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 710,030 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,597,567.50. The trade was a 1,537.37 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 6.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Aclaris Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ACRS. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 241,101 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 23,747 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 69.5% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 32,843 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 13,461 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 5,265.1% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 62,772 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 61,602 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,929,775 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,113,000 after acquiring an additional 207,418 shares during the period. Finally, Trium Capital LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Aclaris Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,081,000. 98.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.