Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Earns Neutral Rating from Analysts at Citigroup

Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research note released on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $38.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on VKTX. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.92.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $32.56 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $25.34 and a 52-week high of $99.41. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.05 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.88.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.41 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849 over the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,565,000 after purchasing an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $24,888,000. Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $18,443,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% in the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,677,000 after acquiring an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,251,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.