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

HC Wainwright reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $102.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Citigroup raised their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.42.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $27.37 on Monday. Viking Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $18.92 and a 1 year high of $81.73. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.50 and its 200-day moving average is $27.94. The company has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.89 and a beta of 0.64.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.14). During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.20) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up NaN% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 47,547 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,913,000 after acquiring an additional 2,295 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 9,209.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 24,392 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 24,130 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1,242.9% in the 1st quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 2,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 222,100.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 2,221 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.