Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Now Covered by B. Riley

Research analysts at B. Riley began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. B. Riley’s target price indicates a potential upside of 110.65% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on VKTX. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $51.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -55.64 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.70. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $11.21 and a one year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total transaction of $10,088,541.07. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 149,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,442,929.26. The trade was a 46.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,052,176,000 after purchasing an additional 79,149 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $638,429,000 after buying an additional 2,403,820 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,350,000 after buying an additional 452,344 shares in the last quarter. Braidwell LP boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $73,248,000 after buying an additional 50,072 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently 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.