Short Interest in NextCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTC) Drops By 68.9%

NextCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTC) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totaling 46,066 shares, a drop of 68.9% from the August 15th total of 148,136 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 115,778 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.4 days.

NextCure Stock Performance

NASDAQ NXTC traded down $0.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $7.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 115,256 shares, compared to its average volume of 109,457. The company’s 50-day moving average is $5.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.51. NextCure has a fifty-two week low of $1.55 and a fifty-two week high of $15.74. The stock has a market cap of $25.28 million, a PE ratio of -0.80 and a beta of 1.33.

NextCure (NASDAQ:NXTC) last announced its 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).

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NextCure news, major shareholder Adar1 Capital Management, Llc acquired 36,303 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The shares were bought at an average price of $4.94 per share, with a total value of $179,336.82. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 722,419 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,568,749.86. This trade represents a 5.29% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 346,761 shares of company stock valued at $1,710,807. 11.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On NextCure

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in NextCure by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 33,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 5,300 shares in the last quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NextCure in the fourth quarter worth $988,000. AWM Investment Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of NextCure in the fourth quarter valued at $1,665,000. Exome Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of NextCure in the fourth quarter valued at $2,341,000. Finally, Squadron Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NextCure during the fourth quarter valued at $3,363,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NXTC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded NextCure from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Zacks Research raised NextCure from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of NextCure from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of NextCure in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $19.00.

NextCure Company Profile

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.