Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Given “Buy” Rating at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $90.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on VKTX. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an overweight rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a sell rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $62.64 on Wednesday. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $8.28 and a one year high of $99.41. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -67.35 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted 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 period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.19) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 516,671 shares of company stock worth $33,810,813. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,730,000. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 29,394 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $547,000 after buying an additional 3,866 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after buying an additional 525,296 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,157,000 after buying an additional 97,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at about $976,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.