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

NextCure, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTC) saw a significant increase in short interest in 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 presently 1.0 days. Approximately 7.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

NextCure Stock Up 6.4%

NextCure stock opened at $1.75 on Tuesday. NextCure has a 12-month low of $1.55 and a 12-month high of $15.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $6.44 and its 200 day moving average is $10.13. The company has a market capitalization of $6.32 million, a PE ratio of -0.10 and a beta of 1.31.

NextCure (NASDAQ:NXTC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($1.87) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.10) by $0.23. Sell-side analysts expect that NextCure will post -7.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of NextCure

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in NextCure by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 3,636 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of NextCure by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 33,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 5,300 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of NextCure in the fourth quarter valued at $160,000. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of NextCure during the fourth quarter valued at about $185,000. Finally, Affinity Asset Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 55,412 shares during the last quarter. 42.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on NXTC. Zacks Research upgraded shares of NextCure from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of NextCure in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Three research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, NextCure currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.