Moody Aldrich Partners LLC Takes $1.17 Million Position in Nektar Therapeutics $NKTR

Moody Aldrich Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 45,412 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,173,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NKTR. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. IFP Advisors Inc acquired a new stake in Nektar Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $124,000. Gainplan LLC acquired a new position in Nektar Therapeutics during the second quarter worth $388,000. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Nektar Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth about $614,000. Finally, Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in Nektar Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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 dated Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.69, for a total transaction of $311,235.54. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 49,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,303,777.98. This trade represents a 11.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan Zalevsky sold 1,721 shares of Nektar Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.52, for a total value of $57,687.92. Following the sale, the insider owned 17,462 shares in the company, valued at $585,326.24. This trade represents a 8.97% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 25,178 shares of company stock worth $938,776 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 5.25% of the company’s stock.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Up 3.4%

NKTR stock opened at $64.93 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $51.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.02. The stock has a market cap of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.38 and a beta of 1.18. Nektar Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $6.45 and a fifty-two week high of $66.92.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($2.95) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.13) by $0.18. The company had revenue of $11.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.42 million. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 163.17% and a negative return on equity of 631.43%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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.