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

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

NextCure Price Performance

NextCure stock remained flat at $5.08 during trading hours on Monday. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 63,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 775,466. NextCure has a 12 month low of $1.55 and a 12 month high of $15.74. The company has a market cap of $18.34 million, a PE ratio of -0.58 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.98.

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 the consensus estimate of ($1.95) by ($0.85).

Insider Activity at NextCure

In related news, major shareholder Adar1 Capital Management, Llc purchased 36,303 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $4.94 per share, with a total value of $179,336.82. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 722,419 shares in the company, valued at $3,568,749.86. This trade represents a 5.29% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 346,761 shares of company stock worth $1,710,807. 11.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of NextCure

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in NextCure stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of NextCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTC) by 80.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 60,534 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 26,900 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned 1.68% of NextCure worth $647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on NXTC shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of NextCure from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of NextCure from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of NextCure in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NextCure from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NextCure has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.00.

NextCure Company Profile

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.