Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) – Investment Analysts’ Recent Ratings Updates

A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) recently:

• 11/22/2024 – Viking Therapeutics is now covered by analysts at B. Riley. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target on the stock.
• 11/21/2024 – Viking Therapeutics was upgraded by analysts at B. Riley to a “strong-buy” rating.
• 11/20/2024 – Viking Therapeutics had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at William Blair.
• 11/4/2024 – Viking Therapeutics had its price target raised by analysts at HC Wainwright from $90.00 to $102.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 10/24/2024 – Viking Therapeutics had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at HC Wainwright. They now have a $90.00 price target on the stock.
• 10/15/2024 – Viking Therapeutics was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com to a “sell” rating.
• 10/9/2024 – Viking Therapeutics had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at HC Wainwright. They now have a $90.00 price target on the stock.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $52.59 on Monday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.55 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $63.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.25. The firm has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.55 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) 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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $660,250. This represents a 52.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009 over the last ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,565,000 after acquiring an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,350,000 after purchasing an additional 452,344 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $18,443,000. Artal Group S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $20,817,000. Finally, Eventide Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% in the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,677,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.