IFP Advisors Inc Takes Position in Nektar Therapeutics $NKTR

IFP Advisors Inc bought a new stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,810 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $124,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NKTR. Almitas Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 401.1% during the 1st quarter. Almitas Capital LLC now owns 4,610,872 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,135,000 after acquiring an additional 3,690,647 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 336.9% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,640,851 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,463,000 after purchasing an additional 2,807,595 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 253.1% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,658,745 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,128,000 after purchasing an additional 1,188,976 shares in the last quarter. Deuterium Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Nektar Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth approximately $381,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 2,435.4% in the 1st quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 557,222 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 535,244 shares in the last quarter. 75.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NKTR shares. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. B. Riley raised their price objective on shares of Nektar Therapeutics from $85.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their price objective on shares of Nektar Therapeutics to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.67.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Performance

NKTR stock opened at $57.77 on Friday. Nektar Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $6.45 and a 52 week high of $63.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $44.56 and its 200 day moving average is $25.28. The firm has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.57 and a beta of 1.18.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($2.95) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($3.13) by $0.18. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 163.17% and a negative return on equity of 631.43%. The company had revenue of $11.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.42 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.72 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Nektar Therapeutics news, CEO Howard W. Robin sold 6,666 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.69, for a total value of $311,235.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 49,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,303,777.98. This trade represents a 11.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathan Zalevsky sold 1,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.52, for a total transaction of $57,687.92. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 17,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $585,326.24. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 25,178 shares of company stock worth $938,776. Insiders own 5.25% of the company’s stock.

Nektar Therapeutics 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.