Oruka Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ORKA) Hits New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Oruka Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ORKA) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $50.00 to $78.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Oruka Therapeutics traded as high as $54.00 and last traded at $57.68, with a volume of 17361 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.31.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on ORKA. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Oruka Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Oruka Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Oruka Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on Oruka Therapeutics from $58.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Oruka Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Oruka Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.90.

Insider Activity at Oruka Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Lawrence Otto Klein sold 1,729 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 927,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,297,861.70. The trade was a 0.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joana Goncalves sold 7,641 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.91, for a total value of $312,593.31. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 33,377 shares in the company, valued at $1,365,453.07. This trade represents a 18.63% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 23,765 shares of company stock worth $849,575 in the last quarter. 24.69% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Oruka Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ORKA. Fairmount Funds Management LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $71,252,000 after buying an additional 333,340 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new stake in Oruka Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $51,280,000. Deep Track Capital LP grew its holdings in Oruka Therapeutics by 38.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 2,654,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,051,000 after buying an additional 735,983 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Oruka Therapeutics by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,453,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,366,000 after buying an additional 676,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RTW Investments LP grew its holdings in Oruka Therapeutics by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 2,058,148 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,382,000 after buying an additional 112,499 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.44% of the company’s stock.

Oruka Therapeutics Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.34. The stock has a market cap of $3.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.58 and a beta of -0.54.

Oruka Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ORKA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.61) by $0.16. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Oruka Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.41 EPS for the current fiscal 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.