Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Receives Buy Rating from HC Wainwright

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at HC Wainwright in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $102.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s target price suggests a potential upside of 87.12% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $54.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.91. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $11.55 and a 12 month high of $99.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.07 billion, a PE ratio of -57.11 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.23) EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

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 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter worth $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.