HC Wainwright Reiterates Buy Rating for Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $90.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s target price suggests a potential upside of 15.34% from the stock’s current price.

VKTX has been the topic of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James increased their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $78.03 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.76. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $8.28 and a one year high of $99.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -83.90 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total transaction of $6,671,161.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at $135,596,696.66. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,455. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 527,671 shares of company stock worth $34,700,603 in the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,157,000 after purchasing an additional 97,552 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $607,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at $4,775,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $690,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $1,422,000. Hedge funds and other 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.