Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Given Buy Rating at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $90.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on VKTX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an overweight rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a sell rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Oppenheimer reiterated an outperform rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Truist Financial reiterated a buy rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an overweight rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $65.84 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $61.47 and its 200-day moving average is $62.49. The company has a market cap of $7.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -70.80 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $8.28 and a 12 month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.19) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total value of $1,029,825.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total value of $1,029,825.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 516,671 shares of company stock worth $33,810,813. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $4,730,000. Virtu Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 29,394 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $547,000 after acquiring an additional 3,866 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after acquiring an additional 525,296 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,157,000 after acquiring an additional 97,552 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $976,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.