Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,510,000 shares, a growth of 24.9% from the February 29th total of 2,010,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company's stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Nektar Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY increased its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 11,340 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 3,450 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 23,010 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 32.2% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 21,895 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 5,327 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 81.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 14,568 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 6,558 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 192,550 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $732,000 after buying an additional 6,640 shares during the period. 75.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NKTR. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Nektar Therapeutics from $0.50 to $1.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. William Blair restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Friday, January 26th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nektar Therapeutics currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $3.50.

Nektar Therapeutics Trading Down 3.2 %

Shares of Nektar Therapeutics stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $0.90. 1,192,055 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,604,779. Nektar Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $0.41 and a fifty-two week high of $1.12. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $0.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $0.60.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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). Nektar Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 306.31% and a negative return on equity of 96.80%. The business had revenue of $23.89 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.09 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.32) EPS. Research analysts expect that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 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.

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