Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Earns Overweight Rating from Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research note released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $105.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a sell rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Stifel Nicolaus restated a buy rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 15th. Maxim Group restated a buy rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. They issued a buy rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Truist Financial restated a buy rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $111.56.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 7.1 %

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $50.77 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $63.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.00. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $8.28 and a 12 month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.25) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total transaction of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,413,639.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total value of $22,136,890.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 348,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,413,639.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $4,986,005.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 174,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,059,845.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $638,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403,820 shares during the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at $294,380,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 59.6% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,202,228 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,379,000 after buying an additional 822,156 shares during the period. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,727,000 after buying an additional 311,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after acquiring an additional 525,296 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

About Viking Therapeutics

Viking Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of novel therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. The company's lead drug candidate is VK2809, an orally available tissue and receptor-subtype selective agonist of the thyroid hormone receptor beta (TRß), which is in Phase IIb clinical trials to treat patients with biopsy-confirmed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, as well as NAFLD.