Viking Therapeutics’ (VKTX) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright restated their buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $102.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on VKTX. 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. B. Riley initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $39.31 on Wednesday. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $20.28 and a 12 month high of $99.41. The stock has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a PE ratio of -42.27 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.64.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.23) EPS. Analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,293,756.55. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 443,701 shares of company stock worth $23,898,520. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is 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.