Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Receives Market Perform Rating from William Blair

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at William Blair in a report issued on Monday,RTT News reports.

NKTR has been the subject of several other research reports. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Oppenheimer upgraded Nektar Therapeutics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $6.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Nektar Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $1.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $6.50 price objective on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Nektar Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4.50.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ NKTR opened at $0.71 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.13 million, a PE ratio of -0.85 and a beta of 0.62. Nektar Therapeutics has a one year low of $0.43 and a one year high of $1.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $0.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $0.90.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.04). Nektar Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 180.70% and a negative return on equity of 173.28%. The firm had revenue of $10.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.61 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.18) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nektar Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NKTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 197.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,300 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 606,057 shares in the last quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,030,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 522,409 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 49,319 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Nektar Therapeutics by 96.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 358,294 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $466,000 after buying an additional 175,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 50.6% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 94,152 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 31,654 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.88% of the company’s stock.

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.