Wellington Management Group LLP Purchases 49,319 Shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR)

Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 522,409 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 49,319 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Nektar Therapeutics were worth $486,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 197.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,300 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after acquiring an additional 606,057 shares during the last quarter. Peapod Lane Capital LLC bought a new position in Nektar Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $1,030,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,345,733 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,349,000 after purchasing an additional 355,759 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $86,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 96.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 358,294 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 175,596 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on NKTR shares. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $6.50 price target on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Nektar Therapeutics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $6.00 target price 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 price target for the stock from $1.00 to $2.00 in a report on Friday. B. Riley initiated coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $4.00 price objective for the company. Finally, William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $4.50.

Nektar Therapeutics Trading Down 2.2 %

Nektar Therapeutics stock opened at $0.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $0.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $0.99. Nektar Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $0.43 and a 1-year high of $1.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $112.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.72 and a beta of 0.69.

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

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.