Raymond James Financial Begins Coverage on Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR)

Key Points

• Raymond James initiated coverage of Nektar Therapeutics with a “market perform” rating, while the broader analyst consensus remains “Moderate Buy” with a $138.50 target price.
• Nektar shares opened at $40.80, well below their 12-month high of $109.00. The company reported a quarterly loss of $1.23 per share, beating estimates, but posted negative net margins and return on equity.
• Institutional investors own 75.88% of the stock, with several funds increasing their positions; CEO Howard Robin also sold a small number of shares to cover tax obligations tied to vested equity awards.

Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a "market perform" rating on the biopharmaceutical company's stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on NKTR. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $178.00 price target on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Friday, September 25th. TD Cowen raised Nektar Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Wedbush cut their target price on shares of Nektar Therapeutics from $80.00 to $50.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $185.00 target price on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $153.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $138.50.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Up 1.3%

NASDAQ NKTR opened at $40.80 on Friday. Nektar Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $33.40 and a twelve month high of $109.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.09 and a beta of 1.26. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $67.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $70.12.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.23) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.97) by $0.74. The firm had revenue of $10.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.43 million. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 287.84% and a negative return on equity of 37.87%. Research analysts anticipate that Nektar Therapeutics will post -8.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Howard Robin sold 418 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.98, for a total value of $30,087.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 54,627 shares in the company, valued at $3,932,051.46. The trade was a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. KBC Group NV bought a new stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth $52,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in Nektar Therapeutics by 15.8% in the second quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 5,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Nektar Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $67,000. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 27.3% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 8,477 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $592,000 after acquiring an additional 1,816 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 32.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 10,729 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $771,000 after acquiring an additional 2,629 shares during the last quarter. 75.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nektar Therapeutics Company Profile

Nektar Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing medicines that use the body's immune system to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases. The company's research programs are based on proprietary drug-design and immunology technologies intended to improve the activity, targeting, or dosing of therapeutic agents.

Nektar's pipeline has included NKTR-255, an investigational interleukin-15 receptor agonist designed to activate natural killer cells and support antitumor immune responses.

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