Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Upgraded at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $6.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $6.50 target price on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $4.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $4.92.

Nektar Therapeutics Trading Up 10.0 %

Nektar Therapeutics stock opened at $0.90 on Friday. Nektar Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $0.65 and a 12 month high of $1.93. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $0.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1.08. The company has a market cap of $165.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.07 and a beta of 0.65.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $29.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $36.65 million. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 173.28% and a negative net margin of 180.70%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Nektar Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Howard W. Robin sold 46,995 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.01, for a total transaction of $47,464.95. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,195,710 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,207,667.10. This represents a 3.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan Zalevsky sold 51,115 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $0.94, for a total transaction of $48,048.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 326,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $307,289.76. This represents a 13.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 165,586 shares of company stock valued at $159,990 over the last 90 days. 3.71% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nektar Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Two Sigma Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 56.3% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 27,654 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 9,958 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 192,978 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $180,000 after buying an additional 10,941 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 107,318 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 11,681 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,414,984 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,316,000 after buying an additional 12,826 shares during the period. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 42.4% in the fourth quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 50,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 14,895 shares during the period. 75.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.