HC Wainwright Reiterates Buy Rating for Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $90.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price target points to a potential upside of 49.03% from the company’s current price.

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

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $60.39 on Thursday. Viking Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $8.28 and a 12-month high of $99.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -64.24 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $62.92 and a 200-day moving average of $61.66.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.19) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% in 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 during the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,379 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 12,278 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.