Oruka Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ORKA) Shares Up 5% After Analyst Upgrade

Oruka Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ORKA)’s stock price shot up 5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $50.00 to $78.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Oruka Therapeutics traded as high as $58.53 and last traded at $59.20. 623,149 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 584,512 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.37.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Oruka Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $73.00 target price on shares of Oruka Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 13th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Oruka Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 13th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Oruka Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Oruka Therapeutics from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Oruka Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Lawrence Otto Klein sold 1,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.30, for a total value of $71,407.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 927,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,297,861.70. The trade was a 0.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Joana Goncalves sold 7,641 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.91, for a total value of $312,593.31. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 33,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,365,453.07. This represents a 18.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 23,765 shares of company stock worth $849,575. Insiders own 24.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Oruka Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Oruka Therapeutics by 47.2% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,139 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Oruka Therapeutics by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 48,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,476,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in Oruka Therapeutics by 35.0% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 3,041 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 788 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Oruka Therapeutics by 62.4% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,352 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Oruka Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 56.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Oruka Therapeutics Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -32.58 and a beta of -0.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $37.92 and a 200-day moving average of $31.34.

Oruka Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ORKA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.61) by $0.16. On average, research analysts forecast that Oruka Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Oruka Therapeutics

Oruka Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel peptide‐based therapies for oncology. The company’s proprietary stapled peptide platform is designed to selectively disrupt intracellular protein–protein interactions that drive tumor growth and immune evasion. By combining the specificity of biologics with the cell‐permeability of small molecules, Oruka aims to target cancer pathways that have been historically considered “undruggable.”

The company’s lead candidate, ONCT-01, is currently in Phase 1 clinical trials for patients with advanced solid tumors, assessing safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy.