NextCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTC) Stock Short Interest Rises 128.5%

NextCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTC) was the target of a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 105,240 shares, an increase of 128.5% from the August 31st total of 46,066 shares. Currently, 3.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 99,535 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.1 days.

Insider Transactions at NextCure

In other news, major shareholder Adar1 Capital Management, Llc bought 292,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $4.93 per share, for a total transaction of $1,443,750.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 686,116 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,382,551.88. This represents a 74.47% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have bought 346,761 shares of company stock valued at $1,710,807 over the last three months. 11.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its stake in NextCure stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of NextCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTC) by 80.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,534 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,900 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 1.68% of NextCure worth $647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NXTC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NextCure from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Zacks Research upgraded NextCure from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating on shares of NextCure in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut NextCure from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NextCure presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.00.

NextCure Trading Down 3.8%

NASDAQ:NXTC traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $5.08. The company had a trading volume of 71,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 108,736. NextCure has a 52 week low of $1.55 and a 52 week high of $15.74. The firm has a market cap of $18.35 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.58 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $6.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.02.

NextCure (NASDAQ:NXTC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($2.80) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.95) by ($0.85).

About NextCure

NextCure, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing immunomedicines for the treatment of cancer. The company’s research is centered on restoring or strengthening the immune system’s ability to recognize and attack tumor cells, with an emphasis on immune-suppressive mechanisms within the tumor microenvironment.

NextCure’s pipeline has included NC318, an investigational antibody designed to target Siglec-6, and NC410, an investigational fusion protein intended to interfere with the LAIR-2 immune-regulatory pathway.