Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Given “Overweight” Rating at Morgan Stanley

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by research analysts at Morgan Stanley in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $105.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 57.35% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on VKTX. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Raymond James boosted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Maxim Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $66.73 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $7.39 billion, a PE ratio of -71.75 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $58.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.08. Viking Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $8.28 and a 1-year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.19) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $135,596,696.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $135,596,696.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total transaction of $1,195,818.58. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $546,535. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 290,241 shares of company stock valued at $17,786,475. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,157,000 after acquiring an additional 97,552 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 70.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,422,000. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $23,727,000 after purchasing an additional 311,681 shares during the period. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $262,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.