Nkarta, Inc. (NASDAQ:NKTX) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Nkarta, Inc. (NASDAQ:NKTX) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $11.3333.

Several research analysts recently issued reports on NKTX shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Nkarta in a report on Friday, March 27th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Nkarta from $14.00 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Wall Street Zen cut Nkarta from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 28th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Nkarta from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nkarta news, CEO Paul J. Hastings sold 26,046 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.07, for a total value of $53,915.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 390,023 shares in the company, valued at approximately $807,347.61. This represents a 6.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 8.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nkarta

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Abel Hall LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nkarta during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Nkarta in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Nkarta by 35.0% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 23,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 6,141 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. purchased a new stake in Nkarta during the third quarter worth about $61,000. Finally, Forefront Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Nkarta during the third quarter worth about $82,000. 80.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nkarta Stock Performance

Shares of NKTX opened at $2.32 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.35 million, a P/E ratio of -1.66 and a beta of 0.66. Nkarta has a 1 year low of $1.42 and a 1 year high of $2.81. The company’s fifty day moving average is $2.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.11.

Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The company reported ($0.37) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by ($0.05). Sell-side analysts predict that Nkarta will post -1.7 EPS for the current year.

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.