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

NextCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTC) saw a large growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totaling 225,545 shares, a growth 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 stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NextCure

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

NextCure Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ:NXTC traded down $0.01 on Friday, hitting $1.65. 64,326 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 171,077. NextCure has a 1 year low of $1.55 and a 1 year high of $15.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $6.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.20. The company has a market cap of $5.94 million, a PE ratio of -0.10 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NXTC shares. Zacks Research upgraded NextCure from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of NextCure in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.00.

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.