Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Coverage Initiated at Scotiabank

Stock analysts at Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target points to a potential upside of 247.89% from the stock’s previous close.

VKTX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Maxim Group dropped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price target (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $29.32 on Thursday. Viking Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $29.08 and a 52-week high of $99.41. The stock has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.32 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day moving average of $38.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.26.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849 in the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Oak Ridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $837,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 43.5% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 102,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,478,000 after buying an additional 31,011 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth about $999,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 88.0% during the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 36,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,322,000 after acquiring an additional 17,159 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 131,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,316,000 after purchasing an additional 62,956 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.