Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.33 EPS

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.33, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $29.18 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.65 million. Nektar Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 173.28% and a negative net margin of 180.70%.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Up 2.1 %

NKTR traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $0.84. The company had a trading volume of 512,667 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,848,512. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $0.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $1.08. Nektar Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $0.65 and a 52 week high of $1.93. The company has a market capitalization of $154.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.00 and a beta of 0.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on NKTR shares. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $6.50 price target on shares of Nektar Therapeutics in a report on Thursday. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $4.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $4.70.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Howard W. Robin sold 46,995 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.01, for a total transaction of $47,464.95. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,195,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,207,667.10. This represents a 3.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jonathan Zalevsky sold 51,115 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $0.94, for a total transaction of $48,048.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 326,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $307,289.76. This trade represents a 13.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 165,586 shares of company stock worth $159,990 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.71% of the company’s stock.

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.