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

HC Wainwright reiterated their buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $102.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Maxim Group decreased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 target price (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.75.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $23.94 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.94 and a beta of 0.84. Viking Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $18.92 and a 1 year high of $81.86. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.85.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its 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 prior year, the firm earned ($0.25) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan purchased 1,240 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $24.15 per share, for a total transaction of $29,946.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,240 shares in the company, valued at $29,946. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 536 shares during the period. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 222,100.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 2,221 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is 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.