Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $13.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on NKTX. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on Nkarta from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Raymond James reissued an outperform rating and issued a $16.00 price target (up previously from $13.00) on shares of Nkarta in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. HC Wainwright reissued a buy rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Nkarta in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on Nkarta from $31.00 to $25.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Buy and an average target price of $17.83.

Nkarta Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NKTX opened at $5.91 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.25. Nkarta has a fifty-two week low of $1.28 and a fifty-two week high of $16.24.

Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported ($0.58) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.56) by ($0.02). On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nkarta will post -2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nkarta

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. RA Capital Management L.P. grew its stake in Nkarta by 38.4% during the 1st quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 10,805,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,803,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nkarta during the 1st quarter valued at about $9,072,000. SR One Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Nkarta by 150.0% during the 1st quarter. SR One Capital Management LP now owns 3,333,333 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,033,000 after buying an additional 2,000,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Nkarta by 26.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,966,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,255,000 after buying an additional 405,753 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Nkarta during the 1st quarter valued at about $147,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.54% of the company’s stock.

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.