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

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

VKTX has been the topic of a number of other reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 21.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $73.22 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.74. Viking Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $8.28 and a twelve month high of $99.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.07 billion, a PE ratio of -78.73 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $69,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,609,397.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $69,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,609,397.30. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.72, for a total value of $397,404.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $662,340. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 10.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 21,405 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,355,000 after purchasing an additional 2,062 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5,482.3% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 50,073 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,170,000 after buying an additional 49,176 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $310,000. PFG Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $230,000. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $56,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.