Nephros Inc. (NASDAQ:NEPH) Stock Short Interest Declines 45.5%

Nephros Inc. (NASDAQ:NEPH) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 25,302 shares, a drop of 45.5% from the September 15th total of 46,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 18,272 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days. Currently, 0.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Nephros

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Nephros by 52.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 20,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 7,144 shares during the last quarter. De Lisle Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Nephros in the second quarter valued at $62,000. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Nephros during the 2nd quarter valued at $67,000. Navellier & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Nephros by 179.6% during the 2nd quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 53,479 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 34,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in Nephros during the 2nd quarter valued at $421,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.10% of the company’s stock.

Nephros Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ NEPH traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $3.50. 8,005 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 32,357. Nephros has a 1-year low of $2.66 and a 1-year high of $6.42. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.60. The company has a market cap of $38.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.90 and a beta of 1.64.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

About Nephros

Nephros, Inc is a medical device company that develops and sells filtration products for healthcare and commercial applications. Its primary focus is point-of-use water filtration systems designed to help reduce bacteria, including waterborne pathogens such as Legionella, in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other healthcare settings.

The company’s product portfolio includes disposable and durable water filtration systems intended for use at sinks, showers, and other water outlets.