Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Research Coverage Started at Leerink Partners

Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) in a report published on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $130.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

NKTR has been the subject of several other research reports. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, October 9th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Monday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $53.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price objective on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $153.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, August 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $130.67.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NKTR opened at $36.89 on Monday. Nektar Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $33.40 and a 52-week high of $109.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.17. The firm has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.51 and a beta of 1.26.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.23) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.97) by $0.74. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 37.87% and a negative net margin of 287.84%. The firm had revenue of $10.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.43 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nektar Therapeutics will post -8.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Howard Robin sold 418 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.98, for a total value of $30,087.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 54,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,932,051.46. This represents a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Armistice Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 122.4% in the fourth quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 596,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $25,199,000 after purchasing an additional 328,000 shares during the last quarter. Sofinnova Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 270.4% during the fourth quarter. Sofinnova Investments Inc. now owns 438,630 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $18,545,000 after purchasing an additional 320,211 shares in the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL lifted its position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 1,559,595 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $65,940,000 after purchasing an additional 283,000 shares in the last quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Nektar Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $19,786,000. Finally, Two Seas Capital LP boosted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 8.2% during the third quarter. Two Seas Capital LP now owns 3,345,978 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $202,582,000 after purchasing an additional 253,744 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.88% of the company’s stock.

About Nektar Therapeutics

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.