Insider Selling: Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Director Sells $23,400.00 in Stock

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Director Robert Chess sold 19,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.20, for a total value of $23,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 255,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $306,327.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Nektar Therapeutics Trading Down 6.4 %

Shares of NKTR opened at $1.17 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.27 and a beta of 0.71. Nektar Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $0.41 and a 12 month high of $1.93. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $1.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $0.96.

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $21.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.91 million. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 195.02% and a negative return on equity of 107.31%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Nektar Therapeutics will post -0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System acquired a new position in Nektar Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $63,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new stake in shares of Nektar Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 1,993.9% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 77,978 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 74,254 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Nektar Therapeutics by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 101,687 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 23,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Nektar Therapeutics by 25.5% during the fourth quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 186,163 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 37,785 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on NKTR shares. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Nektar Therapeutics from $0.50 to $1.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $3.50.

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.