Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Earns Buy Rating from BTIG Research

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by BTIG Research in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $178.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. BTIG Research’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 332.35% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on NKTR. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $185.00 price target on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Friday. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Canaccord Genuity Group started coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $153.00 target price on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Nektar Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nektar Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $138.50.

Nektar Therapeutics Price Performance

NKTR stock traded up $0.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.17. 1,087,092 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,101,605. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $67.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.12. Nektar Therapeutics has a one year low of $33.40 and a one year high of $109.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.14 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.97) by $0.74. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 287.84% and a negative return on equity of 37.87%. The firm had revenue of $10.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.43 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Nektar Therapeutics will post -8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Nektar Therapeutics 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 transaction of $30,087.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 54,627 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,932,051.46. This represents a 0.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nektar Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Two Seas Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 8.2% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. BVF Inc. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 22.2% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Armistice Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 122.4% in the 4th quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 596,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $25,199,000 after purchasing an additional 328,000 shares in the last quarter. Braidwell LP lifted its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 112.7% in the 2nd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 473,617 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $33,063,000 after purchasing an additional 250,916 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sofinnova Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 270.4% in the 4th quarter. Sofinnova Investments Inc. now owns 438,630 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $18,545,000 after purchasing an additional 320,211 shares in the last quarter. 75.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.