Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.
Market Information
Our common stock has been listed on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “NKTX” and has been publicly traded since July 10, 2020. Prior to that date, there was no public trading market for our common stock.
Holders of Common Stock
As of March 22, 2021, there were approximately 40 holders of record of our common stock. The actual number of stockholders is greater than this number of record holders, and includes stockholders who are beneficial owners, but whose shares are held in street name by brokers and other nominees. This number of holders of record also does not include stockholders whose shares may be held in trust by other entities.
Dividend Policy
We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings, if any, to fund the development and expansion of our business and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination related to dividend policy will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on then-existing conditions, including our financial condition, operating results, contractual restrictions, capital requirements, business prospects and other factors our board of directors may deem relevant. In addition, we may enter into agreements in the future that could contain restrictions on payments of cash dividends.
91
Stock Price Performance Graph
Notwithstanding any statement to the contrary in any of our previous or future filings with the SEC, the following information relating to the price performance of our common stock shall not be deemed “filed” with the SEC or “soliciting material” under the Exchange Act and shall not be incorporated by reference into any such filings.
The table and graph below compares the cumulative total return to stockholders on our common stock to the cumulative total return on the Nasdaq Composite Index and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index for the period beginning on July 10, 2020 (the date our common stock commenced trading on Nasdaq Global Select Market ) through December 31, 2020. The following assumes $100 invested on July 10, 2020 in our common stock at the closing price of $47.90 per share, otherwise reflects our stock and the Nasdaq Composite Index and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index values as of close of trading, and assumes the reinvestment of dividends, if any. The stock price performance shown in the following graph is not intended to forecast or be indicative of possible future stock price performance.
COMPARISON OF 5 MONTH CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN
Among Nkarta, Inc, the Nasdaq Composite Index, and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index
Cumulative Total Return
7/10/20
7/31/20
8/31/20
9/30/20
10/31/20
11/30/20
12/31/20
Nkarta, Inc.
$
100
$
54
$
51
$
63
$
60
$
69
$
128
NASDAQ Biotechnology
$
100
$
97
$
97
$
97
$
94
$
104
$
109
NASDAQ Composite
$
100
$
101
$
111
$
105
$
103
$
115
$
121
Use of Proceeds
On July 14, 2020, we completed our IPO. Our registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-239301) relating to the IPO was declared effective by the SEC on July 9, 2020. The offering commenced on July 9, 2020 and following the sale of the shares upon the closing of the IPO, the offer terminated. We issued an aggregate of 16,100,000 shares of our common stock at a price of $18.00 per share for aggregate net cash proceeds of $265.1 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering costs of $24.7 million. No offering expenses were paid directly or indirectly to any of our directors or officers (or their associates) or persons owning 10% or more of any class of our equity securities or to any other affiliates.
92
The sale and issuance of 16,100,000 shares in the IPO closed on July 14, 2020. Cowen, Evercore ISI, Stifel, and Mizuho acted as joint book-running managers for the IPO.
There has been no material change in the planned use of proceeds from our IPO as described in our Prospectus. As of December 31, 2020, we have not used any of the proceeds from our IPO. We invested the funds received in cash equivalents and other marketable securities in accordance with our investment policy.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
Except as previously reported in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on November 12, 2020 and August 20, 2020, there were no unregistered sales of equity securities during the period covered by this report.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
None.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
The information required by this Item regarding equity compensation plans is incorporated by reference to the information set forth in Part III, Item 12 of this Annual Report on Form 10 K.
Item 6. Selected Financial Data.
Not applicable .
93
Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.