Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the five analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $3.50.

NKTR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Nektar Therapeutics from $0.50 to $1.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, January 26th. They set a “hold” rating for the company.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nektar Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new position in Nektar Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,000. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 1,993.9% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 77,978 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 74,254 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 30.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 101,687 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 23,829 shares during the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 186,163 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 37,785 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 300.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 229,841 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 172,509 shares during the period. 75.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Up 4.4 %

Shares of NKTR stock opened at $1.42 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $260.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.97 and a beta of 0.90. Nektar Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $0.41 and a fifty-two week high of $1.75. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $0.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $0.69.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by ($0.01). Nektar Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 96.80% and a negative net margin of 306.31%. The firm had revenue of $23.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.32) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Nektar Therapeutics

Nektar Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering and developing medicines in the field of immunotherapy in the United States and internationally. The company is developing rezpegaldesleukin, a cytokine Treg stimulant that is in phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus and ulcerative colitis, as well as phase 1B clinical trial to treat atopic dermatitis and psoriasis; and NKTR-255, an IL-15 receptor agonist, which is in phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma, and head and neck cancer squamous cell carcinoma and colorectal cancer.