Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) Earns "Buy" Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) received a "buy" rating from Needham & Company, with a target price of $10.00, suggesting a potential upside of 410.20% from its previous close.
• Current analysts' consensus for Nkarta indicates a buy rating and an average target price of $14.33, highlighting strong investor interest.
• Institutional investors hold 80.54% of Nkarta's stock, with notable increases in stakes by major firms like JPMorgan and Jefferies Financial Group.

Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by investment analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $10.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price indicates a potential upside of 325.53% from the stock's previous close.

NKTX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. William Blair reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Nkarta in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Nkarta from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $13.60.

Nkarta Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NKTX traded up $0.02 on Wednesday, reaching $2.35. The stock had a trading volume of 993,222 shares, compared to its average volume of 957,439. The firm has a market capitalization of $166.92 million, a PE ratio of -1.59 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $1.93 and a 200 day moving average of $1.88. Nkarta has a twelve month low of $1.31 and a twelve month high of $6.63.

Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported ($0.31) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.06. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Nkarta will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Nkarta by 138.7% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,537,922 shares of the company's stock worth $6,319,000 after buying an additional 1,474,560 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Nkarta by 37.4% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,520,909 shares of the company's stock worth $6,277,000 after buying an additional 686,229 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Nkarta by 901.7% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,504,219 shares of the company's stock worth $6,236,000 after buying an additional 2,254,219 shares during the period. Tang Capital Management LLC raised its position in Nkarta by 252.9% in the fourth quarter. Tang Capital Management LLC now owns 2,293,719 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,711,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643,719 shares during the period. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its position in Nkarta by 54.7% in the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,064,956 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,800,000 after purchasing an additional 730,260 shares during the period. 80.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Nkarta

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.