NextCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTC) Short Interest Up 228.4% in June

NextCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTC) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totaling 225,545 shares, an increase of 228.4% from the May 31st total of 68,687 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 217,601 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.0 days. Currently, 7.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

NextCure Stock Up 6.4%

NXTC stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $1.75. The company had a trading volume of 119,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 173,727. NextCure has a one year low of $1.55 and a one year high of $15.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.32 million, a P/E ratio of -0.10 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.13.

NextCure (NASDAQ:NXTC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($1.87) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.10) by $0.23. On average, research analysts forecast that NextCure will post -7.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextCure

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NXTC. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of NextCure by 80.0% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 60,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $647,000 after buying an additional 26,900 shares during the last quarter. Ikarian Capital LLC bought a new position in NextCure in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,382,000. Squadron Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in NextCure in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,363,000. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new stake in NextCure in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $185,000. Finally, Boothbay Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in NextCure during the 4th quarter valued at $988,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on NXTC shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of NextCure in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Zacks Research raised NextCure from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.00.

About NextCure

NextCure, Inc is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel immune modulators for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. Leveraging its proprietary Therapeutic Discovery Engine (TDE™), the company aims to identify, validate and optimize new targets in the immune response pathway. NextCure’s research platform integrates large‐scale proteomics and functional genomics to accelerate the progression of promising therapeutic candidates from early discovery through clinical development.

The company’s pipeline includes multiple product candidates in various stages of preclinical and clinical evaluation.