Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) Trading Up 4.1% After Analyst Upgrade

Nkarta, Inc. (NASDAQ:NKTX) was up 4.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on the stock from $15.00 to $16.00. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Nkarta traded as high as $10.53 and last traded at $10.27. Approximately 318,359 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 2,112,043 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.87.

NKTX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. HC Wainwright decreased their price objective on shares of Nkarta from $22.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Nkarta from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $16.00 target price (up previously from $13.00) on shares of Nkarta in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of Nkarta in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.83.

Insider Activity

In other Nkarta news, insider David Shook sold 3,552 shares of Nkarta stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.74, for a total transaction of $31,044.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 114,980 shares in the company, valued at $1,004,925.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Nkarta news, insider David Shook sold 3,552 shares of Nkarta stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.74, for a total transaction of $31,044.48. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 114,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,004,925.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider James Trager sold 4,143 shares of Nkarta stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.00, for a total transaction of $49,716.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 149,415 shares in the company, valued at $1,792,980. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,392 shares of company stock worth $165,512. 5.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NKTX. Commodore Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Nkarta in the fourth quarter worth $18,018,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Nkarta by 64.4% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,879,662 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,797,000 after purchasing an additional 1,520,473 shares during the period. Boxer Capital LLC purchased a new position in Nkarta during the 4th quarter valued at $9,504,000. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in Nkarta by 43.1% during the 1st quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,913,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,894,000 after purchasing an additional 1,179,466 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp increased its position in Nkarta by 392.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,359,615 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,750,000 after purchasing an additional 1,083,297 shares during the period. 80.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nkarta Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $547.82 million, a PE ratio of -4.62 and a beta of 0.73.

Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 21st. The company reported ($0.57) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.05. As a group, analysts predict that Nkarta, Inc. will post -2.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nkarta Company Profile

Nkarta, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes natural killer cell therapies for cancer and autoimmune disease treatment. The company's lead product candidate is NKX019, a chimeric antigen receptor-natural killer (CAR NK) targeting the CD19 antigen that is in Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed/refractory (r/r) non-hodgkin lymphoma, as well as for lupus nephritis.