Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Earns Buy Rating from HC Wainwright

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $185.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 338.18% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on NKTR. Wedbush reduced their target price on Nektar Therapeutics from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Friday, August 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen raised Nektar Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $178.00 price objective on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Nektar Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.50.

Nektar Therapeutics Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of Nektar Therapeutics stock traded down $1.36 on Friday, hitting $42.22. The stock had a trading volume of 1,571,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,091,607. Nektar Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $33.40 and a 52-week high of $109.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.30 and a beta of 1.26. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $69.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.05.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.23) earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $10.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.43 million. Analysts predict that Nektar Therapeutics will post -8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nektar Therapeutics news, CEO Howard Robin sold 418 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.98, for a total transaction 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nektar Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NKTR. KBC Group NV purchased a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $52,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $67,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $206,000. Arrowpoint Investment Partners Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $208,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $209,000. 75.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.