Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) have received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the ten analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $111.78.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VKTX. Maxim Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $69,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,609,397.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.72, for a total value of $397,404.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $662,340. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $69,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,609,397.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 290,241 shares of company stock worth $17,786,475 over the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at about $294,380,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $638,429,000 after buying an additional 2,403,820 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $78,586,000. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth approximately $55,098,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,341,000. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 8.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $58.39 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $6.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -62.78 and a beta of 1.03. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $8.28 and a 52 week high of $99.41. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.23.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.19) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.99 EPS for the current year.

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.