Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Up 0.6% – Should You Buy?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price rose 0.6% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $48.79 and last traded at $48.15. Approximately 559,513 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 4,447,740 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.85.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on VKTX. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. 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 target price for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.8 %

The company has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -50.23 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $60.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.61.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009 in the last three months. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $239,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 70.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 112.7% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,750 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $835,000 after buying an additional 8,344 shares in the last quarter. World Equity Group Inc. acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $331,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 25.8% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 308,446 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $16,351,000 after purchasing an additional 63,206 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.