Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Coverage Initiated at Piper Sandler

Stock analysts at Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 39.78% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on VKTX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $52.94 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.92 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $11.82 and a one year high of $99.41. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.61.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.