StockNews.com Upgrades Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) to Sell

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com to a “sell” rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. Raymond James raised their target price 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. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $65.85 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -70.81 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $62.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.14. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $8.28 and a one year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.19) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $662,340. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 516,671 shares of company stock worth $33,810,813 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 17.8% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 6,059 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $384,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 8.8% during the third quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,190 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 7.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 16,955 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after buying an additional 1,202 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 320.3% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 69,503 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,400,000 after acquiring an additional 52,968 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Morris Harris LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth $317,000. 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.