Nephros (NASDAQ:NEPH) Shares Up 7.4% – Time to Buy?

Nephros Inc. (NASDAQ:NEPH) shares rose 7.4% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $4.36 and last traded at $4.36. 17,808 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 32,052 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.06.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Nephros from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Northland Securities assumed coverage on shares of Nephros in a research note on Friday, July 17th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $4.00 target price for the company. Benchmark restated a “speculative buy” rating on shares of Nephros in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Nephros to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $4.00.

Nephros Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $49.09 million, a P/E ratio of 28.25 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $3.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $3.54.

Nephros (NASDAQ:NEPH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.06 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $6.02 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 million. Nephros had a net margin of 8.38% and a return on equity of 10.60%. On average, research analysts expect that Nephros Inc. will post 0.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Nephros by 3.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 93,187 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,000 after purchasing an additional 2,898 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Nephros by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 59,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Nephros by 39.2% during the 3rd quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 16,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 4,655 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nephros during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in shares of Nephros by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 21,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 7,062 shares during the period. 41.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Nephros

Nephros, Inc is a development-stage company specializing in advanced water filtration and purification technologies for medical, laboratory, industrial and defense applications. The company’s core offering centers on proprietary hollow fiber ultrafilters designed to remove bacteria, viruses, endotoxins and particulates from water streams. These ultrafilters are used in hemodialysis systems to protect patient treatment, in pharmaceutical and laboratory environments to ensure water quality and in critical field-deployable units for military and emergency response.

The company’s product portfolio includes standalone filtration cartridges for point-of-use and point-of-entry installations in dialysis clinics and hospitals, as well as bench-top and portable water purification systems.