Stifel Nicolaus Has Lowered Expectations for Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) Stock Price

Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $15.00 to $14.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $11.00 price target on shares of Nkarta in a research report on Thursday. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Nkarta in a research report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $14.86.

Nkarta Price Performance

NASDAQ:NKTX traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $1.86. The stock had a trading volume of 1,063,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,092,897. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.63 million, a P/E ratio of -0.99 and a beta of 0.90. Nkarta has a 1-year low of $1.31 and a 1-year high of $11.84. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $1.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.82.

Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The company reported ($0.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.41) by $0.06. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Nkarta will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Nkarta

In related news, CEO Paul J. Hastings sold 17,378 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.20, for a total value of $38,231.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 319,859 shares of the company's stock, valued at $703,689.80. This trade represents a 5.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 8.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nkarta

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NKTX. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Nkarta by 901.7% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,504,219 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,236,000 after acquiring an additional 2,254,219 shares during the period. Tang Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Nkarta by 252.9% in the 4th 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake 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 valued at $6,319,000 after purchasing an additional 1,474,560 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Nkarta by 37.4% during 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. Finally, AWM Investment Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Nkarta in the 4th quarter valued at $996,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.54% of the company's stock.

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.