Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

Several other brokerages have also commented on NKTR. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Friday, September 19th. B. Riley raised their target price on Nektar Therapeutics from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.00.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Up 5.1%

Shares of NASDAQ NKTR opened at $56.68 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $56.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.40. Nektar Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $6.45 and a 52-week high of $66.92. The company has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of -6.44 and a beta of 1.19.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.85) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.85) by $1.00. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 163.17% and a negative return on equity of 631.43%. The company had revenue of $11.79 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.20 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Nektar Therapeutics

In other news, insider Jonathan Zalevsky sold 1,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.52, for a total transaction of $57,687.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 17,462 shares in the company, valued at $585,326.24. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Howard W. Robin sold 6,666 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.69, for a total value of $311,235.54. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 49,342 shares in the company, valued at $2,303,777.98. This represents a 11.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 25,178 shares of company stock valued at $938,776 over the last 90 days. 5.25% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nektar Therapeutics

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 7,301,734 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,961,000 after acquiring an additional 100,645 shares during the last quarter. Almitas Capital LLC raised its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 401.1% during the first quarter. Almitas Capital LLC now owns 4,610,872 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,135,000 after purchasing an additional 3,690,647 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Nektar Therapeutics by 336.9% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,640,851 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,463,000 after purchasing an additional 2,807,595 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,007,928 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,045,000 after buying an additional 380,967 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 253.1% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,658,745 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,128,000 after buying an additional 1,188,976 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.88% of the company’s stock.

Nektar Therapeutics Company Profile

Nektar Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering and developing medicines in the field of immunotherapy in the United States and internationally. The company is developing rezpegaldesleukin, a cytokine Treg stimulant that is in phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus and ulcerative colitis, as well as phase 2b clinical trial to treat atopic dermatitis and psoriasis; and NKTR-255, an IL-15 receptor agonist, which is in phase 1 clinical trial to boost the immune system's natural ability to fight cancer.