Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the five research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $3.50.

Several brokerages have issued reports on NKTR. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Nektar Therapeutics from $0.50 to $1.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, January 26th. They set a “hold” rating for the company.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nektar Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 101,687 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 23,829 shares during the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 186,163 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 37,785 shares during the last quarter. CM Management LLC lifted its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 6.7% during the third quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 800,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $476,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 1,993.9% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 77,978 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 74,254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in Nektar Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. 75.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nektar Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NKTR opened at $1.46 on Wednesday. Nektar Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $0.41 and a 52-week high of $1.75. The company has a 50 day moving average of $1.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $268.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.00 and a beta of 0.90.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by ($0.01). Nektar Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 306.31% and a negative return on equity of 96.80%. The firm had revenue of $23.89 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.09 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.32) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.93 earnings per share for the current year.

About Nektar Therapeutics

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.