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

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

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on VKTX. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 9.3 %

VKTX traded down $4.33 on Wednesday, hitting $42.37. 2,250,599 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,407,758. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $58.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.20. The company has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.56 and a beta of 0.88. Viking Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $17.23 and a twelve month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.23) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,250. The trade was a 52.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through 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 transaction of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,293,756.55. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 4,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 253 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.