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

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by investment analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,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 145.84% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. B. Riley began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $41.49 on Wednesday. Viking Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $17.23 and a 1-year high of $99.41. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $58.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.95. The company has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -44.61 and a beta of 0.88.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,455. The trade was a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total transaction of $10,088,541.07. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,442,929.26. This trade represents a 46.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 144,687 shares of company stock worth $11,115,671. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 29.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 593,528 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $37,576,000 after buying an additional 136,729 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 296.8% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,190 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 11,362 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at $240,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 51.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 5,416 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 1,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Second Line Capital LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 34.1% in the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 38,118 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,413,000 after purchasing an additional 9,699 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.