Nektar Therapeutics’ (NKTR) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at BTIG Research

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

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on NKTR. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $153.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen upgraded Nektar Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Friday. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Wedbush dropped their price target 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. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $185.00 price target on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.50.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Performance

Nektar Therapeutics stock traded up $0.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.17. 1,087,135 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,103,956. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.12. Nektar Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $33.40 and a 1 year high of $109.00. The company 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 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. On average, analysts forecast that Nektar Therapeutics will post -8.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nektar Therapeutics

In other Nektar Therapeutics news, CEO Howard Robin sold 418 shares of Nektar Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 0.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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.

Institutional Trading of Nektar Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Armistice Capital LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 328,000 shares during the last quarter. Sofinnova Investments Inc. raised its stake in 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 period. BVF Inc. IL raised its stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 22.2% in 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. Orbimed Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $19,786,000. Finally, Two Seas Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 8.2% in the third quarter. Two Seas Capital LP now owns 3,345,978 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $202,582,000 after acquiring an additional 253,744 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.88% of the company’s stock.

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.