Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Stock Rating Reaffirmed as “Buy” by HC Wainwright

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by HC Wainwright in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $185.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price target indicates a potential upside of 363.54% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wedbush reduced their price objective on Nektar Therapeutics from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Friday, August 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group began coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $153.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, August 21st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $65.00 price target on the stock. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 target price on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Friday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.50.

Nektar Therapeutics Trading Down 5.5%

Shares of Nektar Therapeutics stock opened at $39.91 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.58. Nektar Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $33.40 and a 12-month high of $109.00. The company has a market capitalization of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.96 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Howard Robin sold 418 shares of Nektar Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.98, for a total value of $30,087.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 54,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,932,051.46. The trade was a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Readystate Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics in the second quarter worth about $5,942,000. Orbimed Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics in the first quarter worth about $19,786,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 97.5% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 28,682 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,064,000 after buying an additional 14,162 shares during the period. Braidwell LP grew its stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 112.7% in the second quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 473,617 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $33,063,000 after purchasing an additional 250,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 50.2% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 47,900 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,446,000 after purchasing an additional 16,000 shares during the last quarter. 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.