AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR)

AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR – Get Rating) by 269.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,101 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 58,405 shares during the period. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Nektar Therapeutics were worth $1,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 8,572 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264 shares in the last quarter. Camelot Portfolios LLC purchased a new position in Nektar Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $136,000. Evoke Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Nektar Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $143,000. Frontier Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Nektar Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $162,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Nektar Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $187,000. 93.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NKTR stock opened at $3.99 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $743.23 million, a P/E ratio of -1.49 and a beta of 1.36. Nektar Therapeutics has a one year low of $3.52 and a one year high of $19.37. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $5.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.03.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.49) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.72) by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $24.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $24.89 million. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 476.58% and a negative return on equity of 65.64%. Nektar Therapeutics’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.68) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nektar Therapeutics will post -2.46 earnings per share for the current year.

In other news, CAO Jillian B. Thomsen sold 2,363 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.95, for a total transaction of $25,874.85. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Gil M. Labrucherie sold 7,579 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.95, for a total transaction of $82,990.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,186 shares of company stock valued at $418,137 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.91% of the company’s stock.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on NKTR. Bank of America cut shares of Nektar Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $18.00 to $6.00 in a report on Monday, March 14th. SVB Leerink dropped their target price on shares of Nektar Therapeutics from $7.00 to $6.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut shares of Nektar Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $24.00 to $5.00 in a report on Monday, March 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Nektar Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $3.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, April 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Nektar Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nektar Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.46.

Nektar Therapeutics Company Profile (Get Rating)

Nektar Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering and developing medicines in areas of unmet medical need in the United States and internationally. The company's products include Bempegaldesleukin, a CD122-preferential interleukin-2 (IL-2) pathway agonist, which is in phase 3 clinical trial to treat metastatic melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, muscle-invasive bladder cancer, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, and adjuvant melanoma; phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma, non-small cell lung cancer, and urothelial cancer; phase 1/2A clinical trial to treat squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck; phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of solid tumors; and phase 1B clinical trial to treat COVID-19.

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