Fred Alger Management LLC Buys New Holdings in Nektar Therapeutics $NKTR

Fred Alger Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 506,446 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $344,000. Fred Alger Management LLC owned 0.27% of Nektar Therapeutics at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKTR. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 192,978 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $180,000 after purchasing an additional 10,941 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 200.3% in the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 181,679 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $169,000 after acquiring an additional 121,187 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,414,984 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,316,000 after acquiring an additional 12,826 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 32.8% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 373,948 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 92,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 312,693 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $291,000 after acquiring an additional 73,847 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.88% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jonathan Zalevsky sold 1,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.52, for a total transaction of $57,687.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 17,462 shares in the company, valued at $585,326.24. The trade was a 8.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Howard W. Robin sold 6,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.53, for a total value of $256,840.98. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 56,008 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,157,988.24. The trade was a 10.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,512 shares of company stock valued at $627,540. 5.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on NKTR. B. Riley lifted their price objective on Nektar Therapeutics from $60.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Nektar Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. BTIG Research lifted their target price on Nektar Therapeutics from $60.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, HC Wainwright lifted their target price on Nektar Therapeutics to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.33.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Down 0.8%

NKTR opened at $48.18 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $27.08 and a 200 day moving average of $17.02. Nektar Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $6.45 and a 52-week high of $49.01. The stock has a market cap of $916.38 million, a P/E ratio of -5.48 and a beta of 1.06.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($2.95) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.13) by $0.18. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 631.43% and a negative net margin of 163.17%.The company had revenue of $11.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.42 million. Equities analysts anticipate that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nektar Therapeutics 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.