Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $97.29.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on VKTX shares. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price target (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 3.0 %

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $28.32 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $35.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.68. The stock has a market cap of $3.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.32 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $27.50 and a twelve month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.25) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now 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. Insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last three months. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 200 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. FIL Ltd increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently 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.