William Blair Issues Pessimistic Outlook for Nkarta Earnings

Nkarta, Inc. (NASDAQ:NKTX) – Investment analysts at William Blair decreased their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for Nkarta in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, March 27th. William Blair analyst S. Corwin now forecasts that the company will earn ($0.44) per share for the quarter, down from their previous forecast of ($0.42). The consensus estimate for Nkarta’s current full-year earnings is ($1.70) per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Nkarta’s Q2 2025 earnings at ($0.45) EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at ($0.46) EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at ($0.46) EPS and FY2025 earnings at ($1.81) EPS.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on NKTX. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of Nkarta in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Nkarta from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Nkarta in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nkarta currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.86.

Nkarta Trading Down 8.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ NKTX opened at $1.84 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $130.56 million, a P/E ratio of -0.98 and a beta of 0.90. Nkarta has a twelve month low of $1.31 and a twelve month high of $11.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $1.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.79.

Nkarta (NASDAQ:NKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The company reported ($0.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.41) by $0.06.

Insider Transactions at Nkarta

In related news, CEO Paul J. Hastings sold 17,378 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.20, for a total transaction of $38,231.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 319,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $703,689.80. This represents a 5.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 8.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nkarta

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Nkarta by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 225,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 8,883 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Nkarta by 901.7% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,504,219 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,236,000 after purchasing an additional 2,254,219 shares in the last quarter. AWM Investment Company Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nkarta during the 4th quarter worth $996,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of Nkarta during the 4th quarter worth $258,000. Finally, Tang Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Nkarta by 252.9% in the fourth quarter. Tang Capital Management LLC now owns 2,293,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,711,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643,719 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.54% of the company’s stock.

Nkarta Company Profile

Nkarta, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes natural killer cell therapies for cancer and autoimmune disease treatment. The company's lead product candidate is NKX019, a chimeric antigen receptor-natural killer (CAR NK) targeting the CD19 antigen that is in Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of relapsed/refractory (r/r) non-hodgkin lymphoma, as well as for lupus nephritis.