JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Price Target to $75.00

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) had its price target cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $80.00 to $75.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on VKTX. Citigroup upped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Viking Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.62.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $34.42 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $28.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.24 and a beta of 0.64. Viking Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $18.92 and a twelve month high of $81.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.67) by ($0.14). The firm’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.22) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 121.5% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 29,721 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $718,000 after buying an additional 16,302 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Management Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at $241,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $1,367,000. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 77.7% in the second quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 63,546 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,684,000 after acquiring an additional 27,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 118.5% in the second quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 52,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,378,000 after acquiring an additional 28,200 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.