Analysts Set Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Price Target at $3.50

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $3.50.

Several brokerages recently commented on NKTR. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Nektar Therapeutics from $0.50 to $1.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Friday, January 26th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, William Blair restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, March 5th.

Institutional Trading of Nektar Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in Nektar Therapeutics by 1,993.9% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 77,978 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 74,254 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Nektar Therapeutics by 30.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 25.5% in the 4th quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 186,163 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 37,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 300.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 229,841 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 172,509 shares during the last quarter. 75.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Nektar Therapeutics Trading Down 2.8 %

NKTR traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $1.38. 958,001 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,164,889. Nektar Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $0.41 and a 12-month high of $1.75. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $1.00 and a 200 day moving average of $0.69. The firm has a market cap of $253.40 million, a P/E ratio of -0.95 and a beta of 0.90.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR - Get Free Report) 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). The business had revenue of $23.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.09 million. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 96.80% and a negative net margin of 306.31%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.32) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.93 EPS for the current fiscal 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 1B clinical trial to treat atopic dermatitis and psoriasis; and NKTR-255, an IL-15 receptor agonist, which is in phase 1/2 clinical trial for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma, and head and neck cancer squamous cell carcinoma and colorectal cancer.