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

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $90.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective points to a potential upside of 21.11% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on VKTX. Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. BTIG Research raised their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 7.9 %

VKTX opened at $74.31 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $68.35 and a 200-day moving average of $34.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -79.90 and a beta of 1.05. Viking Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $8.28 and a 12-month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $701,250.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total transaction of $7,230,152.73. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,184,882 shares in the company, valued at $58,707,779.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 329,079 shares of company stock valued at $8,769,653. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 924.4% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 82,099 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $909,000 after purchasing an additional 74,085 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 33.1% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 16,639 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $184,000 after acquiring an additional 4,136 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 137,569 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,566,000 after acquiring an additional 18,811 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 43.4% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 27,647 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 8,372 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 270.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,048 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $122,000 after acquiring an additional 8,063 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.