Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday. The stock had previously closed at $60.54, but opened at $55.41. Nektar Therapeutics shares last traded at $50.0130, with a volume of 862,433 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on NKTR. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Friday, August 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, August 21st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush decreased their target price on Nektar Therapeutics from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $153.00 price target for the company. Finally, TD Cowen raised Nektar Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nektar Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $138.50.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.06 and a beta of 1.14.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.23) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.97) by $0.74. The company had revenue of $10.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.43 million. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 37.87% and a negative net margin of 287.84%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Nektar Therapeutics will post -8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Nektar Therapeutics news, CEO Howard Robin sold 418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.98, for a total value of $30,087.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 54,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,932,051.46. This trade represents a 0.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through 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.

Institutional Trading of Nektar Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NKTR. BVF Inc. IL lifted its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 1,559,595 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $65,940,000 after purchasing an additional 283,000 shares during the last quarter. Two Seas Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $31,506,000. Armistice Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 122.4% during the 4th quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 596,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,199,000 after buying an additional 328,000 shares in the last quarter. Braidwell LP raised its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 112.7% during the 2nd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 473,617 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $33,063,000 after buying an additional 250,916 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sofinnova Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 270.4% during the 4th quarter. Sofinnova Investments Inc. now owns 438,630 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $18,545,000 after buying an additional 320,211 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.