Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Nkarta from “sell” to “strong sell,” adding to a mixed analyst backdrop that still includes several bullish ratings and an average Moderate Buy consensus with a $10.75 price target.
• Nkarta’s shares were trading at $2.27, near the low end of their 52-week range of $1.70 to $3.72, with a market cap of about $162.4 million.
• The company reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss of $0.37 per share versus estimates of $0.39, while analysts still expect Nkarta to post a full-year loss of $1.43 per share.

Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Mizuho lowered their target price on Nkarta from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Nkarta in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $11.00 price objective on shares of Nkarta in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Nkarta in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Evercore set a $9.00 target price on shares of Nkarta in a report on Monday, May 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $10.75.

Nkarta Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NKTX opened at $2.27 on Friday. Nkarta has a fifty-two week low of $1.70 and a fifty-two week high of $3.72. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $2.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $162.41 million, a P/E ratio of -1.69 and a beta of 0.90.

Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.37) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by $0.02. Research analysts forecast that Nkarta will post -1.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Nkarta

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKTX. GSK plc acquired a new position in Nkarta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,829,000. Monaco Asset Management SAM lifted its position in shares of Nkarta by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Monaco Asset Management SAM now owns 2,546,932 shares of the company's stock worth $4,712,000 after purchasing an additional 576,022 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Nkarta by 1.8% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,732,372 shares of the company's stock worth $3,655,000 after purchasing an additional 30,350 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Nkarta by 0.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,208,378 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,006,000 after buying an additional 10,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Nkarta by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,169,356 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,163,000 after buying an additional 21,241 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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