Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) Short Interest Up 140.0% in July

Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) saw a significant growth in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,720,000 shares, a growth of 140.0% from the June 30th total of 4,050,000 shares. Currently, 5.4% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,930,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.0 days.

Nektar Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NKTR stock traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $1.38. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 912,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,585,765. Nektar Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $0.41 and a 52-week high of $1.93. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $1.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $1.12. The stock has a market cap of $253.95 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.50 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Rodman & Renshaw started coverage on Nektar Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $2.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.00.

Insider Activity at Nektar Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Howard W. Robin sold 16,650 shares of Nektar Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.75, for a total transaction of $29,137.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 863,239 shares in the company, valued at $1,510,668.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Howard W. Robin sold 16,650 shares of Nektar Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1.75, for a total transaction of $29,137.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 863,239 shares in the company, valued at $1,510,668.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Deep Track Capital, Lp sold 56,000 shares of Nektar Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.78, for a total value of $99,680.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 18,344,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,652,320. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 99,505 shares of company stock worth $165,089 over the last ninety days. 3.71% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 185.5% in the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 5,255,790 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,970,000 after acquiring an additional 3,414,712 shares during the period. Monaco Asset Management SAM grew its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Monaco Asset Management SAM now owns 5,973,387 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,375,000 after acquiring an additional 1,163,786 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 2,822.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 551,535 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $684,000 after acquiring an additional 532,663 shares during the period. Acuitas Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. Acuitas Investments LLC now owns 911,204 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $515,000 after acquiring an additional 189,744 shares during the period. Finally, Lynx1 Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Nektar Therapeutics by 7.2% in the first quarter. Lynx1 Capital Management LP now owns 2,068,842 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,933,000 after acquiring an additional 139,644 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.88% 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.