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

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $102.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective points to a potential upside of 302.29% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on VKTX. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price objective (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Maxim Group lowered their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.31.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 9.3 %

Shares of VKTX traded down $2.61 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $25.36. 3,962,738 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,503,474. The company has a market cap of $2.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.36 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.60. Viking Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $24.41 and a 12-month high of $89.10.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. Research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849 in the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 43.5% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 102,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,478,000 after purchasing an additional 31,011 shares in the last quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.0% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 36,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,322,000 after buying an additional 17,159 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 131,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,316,000 after buying an additional 62,956 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 715,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,304,000 after buying an additional 44,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 38,143 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,415,000 after buying an additional 9,699 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.