OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Acquires 430,087 Shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR)

OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR - Free Report) by 37.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,580,916 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after acquiring an additional 430,087 shares during the period. OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned about 0.86% of Nektar Therapeutics worth $1,470,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 50.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 91,470 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 30,481 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 96.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 358,294 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $466,000 after acquiring an additional 175,596 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 197.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 913,300 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,187,000 after buying an additional 606,057 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 44.0% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 64,100 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 19,600 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Nektar Therapeutics by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 107,318 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 11,681 shares during the period. 75.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on NKTR shares. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $6.50 target price on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. William Blair reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, May 12th. 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 note on Friday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Nektar Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $1.00 to $2.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Nektar Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $4.50.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NKTR traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $0.66. 464,175 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,838,427. Nektar Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $0.43 and a 1-year high of $1.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $123.39 million, a PE ratio of -0.79 and a beta of 0.62. The business's 50 day moving average price is $0.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $0.88.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by ($0.04). Nektar Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 180.70% and a negative return on equity of 173.28%. The business had revenue of $10.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.61 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.18) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.72 EPS 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 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.