Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR – Get Rating)’s share price dropped 2% during trading on Wednesday after Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on the stock from $25.00 to $6.00. Canaccord Genuity Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Nektar Therapeutics traded as low as $4.35 and last traded at $4.39. Approximately 28,994 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 99% from the average daily volume of 2,604,696 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.48.
NKTR has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Cowen downgraded Nektar Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $35.00 to $8.00 in a research report on Monday. Bank of America downgraded Nektar Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $18.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Nektar Therapeutics from $24.00 to $17.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on Nektar Therapeutics from $25.00 to $6.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Nektar Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.58.
In related news, SVP John Northcott sold 4,852 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.95, for a total value of $53,129.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Gil M. Labrucherie sold 7,579 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.95, for a total value of $82,990.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 38,186 shares of company stock worth $418,137 in the last ninety days. 2.91% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Nektar Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $23,878,000. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 41.5% during the fourth quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 26,671,803 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $360,336,000 after purchasing an additional 7,827,559 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in Nektar Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $13,329,000. Comerica Bank lifted its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 86.1% during the fourth quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 155,026 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 71,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 224.4% during the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 67,060 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $910,000 after buying an additional 46,390 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.96% of the company’s stock.
The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $10.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.51. The company has a market capitalization of $858.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.57 and a beta of 1.31.
Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 28th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.79) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.81) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $25.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.33 million. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 514.03% and a negative return on equity of 61.98%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.65) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Nektar Therapeutics will post -2.63 EPS for the current year.
Nektar Therapeutics Company Profile
Nektar Therapeutics is a research-based biopharmaceutical company that focuses on discovering and developing medicines in areas of unmet medical need. Its research and development pipeline of new investigational drugs includes therapies for oncology, immunology and virology. The firm focuses on using new chemistry approaches to make medicines to treat cancer and auto-immune disease.