Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Research Coverage Started at Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued a market perform rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on NKTR. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Wedbush dropped their price objective on shares of Nektar Therapeutics from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Friday, August 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of Nektar Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 target price on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.50.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NKTR opened at $41.17 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of -6.14 and a beta of 1.26. Nektar Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $33.40 and a 1 year high of $109.00.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.23) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.97) by $0.74. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 37.87% and a negative net margin of 287.84%. The business had revenue of $10.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.43 million. Analysts predict that Nektar Therapeutics will post -8.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Nektar Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Howard Robin sold 418 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.98, for a total value of $30,087.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 54,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,932,051.46. This represents a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nektar Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Readystate Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Nektar Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,942,000. Orbimed Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Nektar Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $19,786,000. Braidwell LP raised its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 112.7% during the 2nd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 473,617 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $33,063,000 after acquiring an additional 250,916 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 50.2% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 47,900 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,446,000 after acquiring an additional 16,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in Nektar Therapeutics by 97.5% during the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 28,682 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,064,000 after acquiring an additional 14,162 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.88% of the company’s stock.

Nektar Therapeutics Company Profile

Nektar Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing medicines that use the body’s immune system to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases. The company’s research programs are based on proprietary drug-design and immunology technologies intended to improve the activity, targeting, or dosing of therapeutic agents.

Nektar’s pipeline has included NKTR-255, an investigational interleukin-15 receptor agonist designed to activate natural killer cells and support antitumor immune responses.