Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) have been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $4.50.

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Nektar Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $1.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, May 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Nektar Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $6.50 target price on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Nektar Therapeutics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $6.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NKTR opened at $0.69 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $127.48 million, a P/E ratio of -0.82 and a beta of 0.62. Nektar Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $0.43 and a 52-week high of $1.77. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $0.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $0.88.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $10.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.61 million. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 173.28% and a negative net margin of 180.70%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.18) EPS. Analysts forecast that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Nektar Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 197.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,300 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 606,057 shares in the last quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC bought a new stake in Nektar Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $1,030,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 522,409 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 49,319 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 108,975 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 22,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 50.6% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 94,152 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 31,654 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.88% of the company’s stock.

About Nektar Therapeutics

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.