Analyst Update: Primo Water, NetApp, Chimerix

Analysts are weighing in today on bottled water distributor Primo Water Corporation (NASDAQ:PRMW), software concern NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP), and biotech interest Chimerix Inc (NASDAQ:CMRX). Here's a quick roundup of today's brokerage notes on PRMW, NTAP, and CMRX.

• Barrington Research raised its rating on PRMW to "outperform" from "market perform," and set a price target of $9.50 -- a 20% premium to the stock's close of $7.92 on Monday. In early trading, PRMW is up 3.9% at $8.23. Primo Water Corporation has added 90.5% on the charts this year, tagging a four-year high at $9.70 last month. The shares dipped lower last week, but found support at their 120-day moving average, which has ascended into the $7.50 region. Considering the equity's long-term uptrend, three out of four analysts rate the stock a "buy," and shorts have recently abandoned bearish positions. Specifically, short interest on PRMW fell by 43% during the past two reporting periods, and now accounts for just 0.6% of the equity's total float.

• Monness Crespi Hardt reduced its price target on NTAP $4 to $23, while reiterating its "sell" rating, a week after M&A plans sent the stock reeling to a new six-year low of $25.21. While NetApp Inc. is up 0.5% at $26.69 today, the stock has fallen roughly 13% in December, and is down 35.6% in 2015. Still, options traders have continued with their bullish bets. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the stock's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 4.56 shows nearly five calls being bought to open for each put, and ranks higher than 78% of the past year's readings.

• After plummeting more than 80% and hitting an all-time low of $6.43 yesterday, CMRX is on the mend, up 6.6% at $7.05 in spite of negative analyst notes. Chimerix Inc has been handed downgrades to "hold" and "neutral" at Brean Capital and J.P. Morgan Securities, respectively, while Barclays, Janney, J.P. Morgan Securities, and Citigroup slashed their price targets to a range between $12 and $19 -- still well above the shares' current value. Before yesterday's bear gap, the stock was down just 11.6% in 2015, but that number has jumped to an 83% loss. There could be more downgrades on the way; eight out of 10 analysts offer up "strong buy" opinions.