NextCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTC) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

NextCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,323,834 shares, a growth of 734.7% from the June 30th total of 158,592 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 11,134,379 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.1 days. Approximately 41.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

NextCure Stock Performance

NXTC opened at $4.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.31 million, a PE ratio of -0.25 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $3.91 and a 200-day moving average of $8.98. NextCure has a 52-week low of $1.55 and a 52-week high of $15.74.

NextCure (NASDAQ:NXTC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($1.87) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.10) by $0.23. On average, research analysts predict that NextCure will post -7.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NXTC. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of NextCure from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Zacks Research raised shares of NextCure from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NextCure from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of NextCure in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NextCure

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NextCure by 18.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $329,000 after buying an additional 3,636 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in NextCure by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 33,634 shares of the company’s stock worth $477,000 after acquiring an additional 5,300 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in NextCure in the 4th quarter worth $160,000. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in NextCure during the 4th quarter worth $185,000. Finally, Affinity Asset Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in NextCure by 28.9% during the fourth quarter. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC now owns 247,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,509,000 after acquiring an additional 55,412 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 42.65% of the company’s stock.

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.