Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) in a report released on Wednesday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on NKTR. B. Riley started coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $4.00 price target for the company. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $6.50 target price on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Nektar Therapeutics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $6.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Nektar Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $1.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $4.50.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Up 4.9 %

Shares of NKTR opened at $0.64 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $118.44 million, a PE ratio of -0.76 and a beta of 0.69. Nektar Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $0.43 and a 52-week high of $1.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $0.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $0.98.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.33. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 173.28% and a negative net margin of 180.70%. The business had revenue of $29.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.65 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.72 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Nektar Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKTR. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 403.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 386,656 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 309,822 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,345,733 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,349,000 after buying an additional 355,759 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth $615,000. Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 50.0% in the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 91,470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 30,481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Nektar Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.88% of the company’s stock.

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.