Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Holdings Trimmed by Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,626,961 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 166,243 shares during the quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc.’s holdings in Nektar Therapeutics were worth $2,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Two Sigma Securities LLC lifted its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 56.3% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 27,654 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 9,958 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 42.4% in the 4th quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 50,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 14,895 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Nektar Therapeutics by 44.0% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 64,100 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 19,600 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 50.6% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 94,152 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 31,654 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on NKTR shares. William Blair reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Monday. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $6.50 target price on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. 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 report on Friday, April 11th. StockNews.com cut Nektar Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised shares of Nektar Therapeutics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $6.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $4.50.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ NKTR opened at $0.68 on Friday. Nektar Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $0.43 and a 52 week high of $1.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $126.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.81 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $0.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $0.89.

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