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

HC Wainwright reissued their buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $90.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $78.03 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.60 billion, a PE ratio of -83.90 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day moving average is $63.67 and its 200 day moving average is $61.61. Viking Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $8.28 and a 52-week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.23) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $768,455. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 527,671 shares of company stock worth $34,700,603. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter worth $27,000. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

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.