Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Rating Increased to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price target on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Nektar Therapeutics from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Five investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nektar Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.00.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:NKTR opened at $55.97 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.36 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $54.43 and its 200-day moving average is $30.65. Nektar Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $6.45 and a twelve month high of $66.92.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.85) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.85) by $1.00. The firm had revenue of $11.79 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.20 million. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 163.17% and a negative return on equity of 631.43%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nektar Therapeutics

In other Nektar Therapeutics news, insider Jonathan Zalevsky sold 1,721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.52, for a total value of $57,687.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 17,462 shares in the company, valued at $585,326.24. This represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Howard W. Robin sold 6,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.69, for a total value of $311,235.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 49,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,303,777.98. This represents a 11.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,178 shares of company stock worth $938,776. Insiders own 5.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKTR. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Nektar Therapeutics by 1.4% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 7,301,734 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,961,000 after buying an additional 100,645 shares during the last quarter. Gainplan LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at $388,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth $222,000. Fred Alger Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth $344,000. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Nektar Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth about $41,000. 75.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nektar Therapeutics Company Profile

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 2b clinical trial to treat atopic dermatitis and psoriasis; and NKTR-255, an IL-15 receptor agonist, which is in phase 1 clinical trial to boost the immune system's natural ability to fight cancer.