Nkarta, Inc. (NASDAQ:NKTX) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Nkarta, Inc. (NASDAQ:NKTX) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $13.25.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Nkarta in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Nkarta from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 20th.

Nkarta Stock Up 0.9%

NASDAQ NKTX opened at $2.28 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $2.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.10. Nkarta has a twelve month low of $1.31 and a twelve month high of $2.81. The company has a market capitalization of $161.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.65 and a beta of 0.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nkarta

In other news, CEO Paul J. Hastings sold 26,046 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.07, for a total value of $53,915.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 390,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,347.61. The trade was a 6.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 8.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nkarta

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Nkarta by 478.4% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 69,396 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 57,399 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Nkarta by 300.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 672,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,237,000 after buying an additional 504,272 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nkarta by 13.3% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 681,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,253,000 after buying an additional 80,211 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Nkarta by 118.7% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 134,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $247,000 after buying an additional 852,559 shares during the period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nkarta in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.54% of the company’s stock.

About Nkarta

Nkarta, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company specializing in the development of off-the-shelf natural killer (NK) cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. Leveraging proprietary activation and expansion technologies, Nkarta aims to harness the innate tumor-killing properties of NK cells while incorporating targeted immuno-engineering approaches to enhance safety, potency and persistence in patients. The company’s platform supports both allogeneic cell manufacturing and genetic modifications to generate chimeric antigen receptor-expressing NK cell candidates designed to address a range of hematologic and solid tumors.

Nkarta’s lead program, NKX019, is an anti-CD19 CAR-NK cell therapy in early-phase clinical trials for relapsed or refractory B-cell malignancies.