Short Interest in Oruka Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ORKA) Decreases By 18.4%

Oruka Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ORKA) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 3,644,487 shares, a decrease of 18.4% from the February 26th total of 4,466,793 shares. Currently, 9.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 487,246 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 7.5 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ORKA shares. Piper Sandler began coverage on Oruka Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded Oruka Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Oruka Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Oruka Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Leerink Partners upped their target price on Oruka Therapeutics from $58.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Oruka Therapeutics

In other Oruka Therapeutics news, insider Joana Goncalves sold 7,641 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,453.07. This represents a 18.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Lawrence Otto Klein sold 1,729 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.30, for a total transaction of $71,407.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 927,309 shares in the company, valued at $38,297,861.70. This represents a 0.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 23,765 shares of company stock valued at $849,575. Corporate insiders own 24.69% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Oruka Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairmount Funds Management LLC grew its position in Oruka Therapeutics by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fairmount Funds Management LLC now owns 3,705,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,252,000 after acquiring an additional 333,340 shares during the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Oruka Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,640,000. Financial Enhancement Group LLC acquired a new position in Oruka Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $631,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in Oruka Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $296,000. Finally, B Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Oruka Therapeutics by 28.8% during the second quarter. B Group Inc. now owns 75,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $841,000 after purchasing an additional 16,785 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.44% of the company’s stock.

Oruka Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ORKA traded up $3.53 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $49.05. 1,022,945 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 730,116. Oruka Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $5.49 and a 12 month high of $49.33. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.96. The firm has a market cap of $2.43 billion, a PE ratio of -26.37 and a beta of -0.38.

Oruka Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ORKA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.61) by $0.16. On average, equities research analysts expect that Oruka Therapeutics will post -3.41 EPS for the current year.

Oruka Therapeutics Company Profile

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.