Northland Securities Initiates Coverage on Nephros (NASDAQ:NEPH)

Northland Securities initiated coverage on shares of Nephros (NASDAQ:NEPH) in a research report issued on Friday. The brokerage set a “market perform” rating and a $4.00 price target on the stock. Northland Securities’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 6.38% from the company’s current price.

Separately, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Nephros from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $5.00.

Nephros Stock Performance

NEPH opened at $3.76 on Friday. Nephros has a 1 year low of $2.66 and a 1 year high of $6.42. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $3.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.83 million, a PE ratio of 53.72 and a beta of 1.49.

Nephros (NASDAQ:NEPH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.02 million. Nephros had a net margin of 4.06% and a return on equity of 7.66%.

Institutional Trading of Nephros

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Topline Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Nephros by 13.1% in the 2nd quarter. Topline Capital Management LLC now owns 477,449 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,953,000 after buying an additional 55,360 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Nephros by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 103,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $506,000 after purchasing an additional 21,272 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nephros by 3.2% in the 2nd 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 lifted its stake in Nephros by 7.2% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Nephros by 262.3% during the fourth quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 50,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 36,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.10% of the company’s stock.

Nephros Company Profile

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.