Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Sunday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. B. Riley raised their price objective on Nektar Therapeutics from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.00.

Nektar Therapeutics Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NKTR opened at $59.17 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $57.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.73 and a beta of 1.19. 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 the consensus estimate of ($2.85) by $1.00. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 631.43% and a negative net margin of 163.17%.The business had revenue of $11.79 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.20 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nektar Therapeutics

In other Nektar Therapeutics news, CEO Howard W. Robin sold 6,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,303,777.98. The trade was a 11.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan Zalevsky sold 1,721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.52, for a total transaction of $57,687.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 17,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $585,326.24. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 22,204 shares of company stock valued at $859,697. Insiders own 5.25% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Nektar Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NKTR. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 93.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 434 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC bought a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at $33,000. US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 257.8% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 50,085 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 36,085 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth $52,000. 75.88% of the stock is currently owned by 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.