Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Earns “Buy” Rating from HC Wainwright

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTXGet Free Report)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $102.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 140.74% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on VKTX. Piper Sandler began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.75.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on VKTX

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX traded down $4.33 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.37. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,250,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,407,758. The firm has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.56 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a 50-day moving average of $58.96 and a 200-day moving average of $58.20. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $17.23 and a 12 month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTXGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.23) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $660,250. This represents a 52.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 296.8% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,190 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $962,000 after buying an additional 11,362 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth $240,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 5,416 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $343,000 after acquiring an additional 1,836 shares during the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 34.1% in the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 38,118 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,413,000 after purchasing an additional 9,699 shares during the period. Finally, Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $741,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

Further Reading

Analyst Recommendations for Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

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