Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) have earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $109.73.

Several research firms have weighed in on VKTX. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. HC Wainwright raised their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. B. Riley initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $715,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $660,250. This trade represents a 52.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,052,176,000 after purchasing an additional 79,149 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $638,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403,820 shares during the period. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth $294,380,000. Perpetual Ltd boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% during the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,350,000 after purchasing an additional 452,344 shares during the period. Finally, Braidwell LP boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,248,000 after purchasing an additional 50,072 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

VKTX opened at $52.59 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -56.55 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.52. Viking Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $11.55 and a 1-year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.23) EPS. Research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal 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.