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

HC Wainwright reissued their buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $90.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. BTIG Research boosted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $37.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, March 7th. They set a buy rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 7.9 %

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $74.31 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.39. Viking Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $8.28 and a twelve month high of $99.41. The company has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -79.90 and a beta of 1.05.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total transaction of $838,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,264,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,243,923.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total transaction of $838,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,264,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,243,923.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $701,250.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 329,079 shares of company stock worth $8,769,653 in the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 924.4% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 82,099 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $909,000 after buying an additional 74,085 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 33.1% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 16,639 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $184,000 after purchasing an additional 4,136 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 15.8% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 137,569 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,566,000 after purchasing an additional 18,811 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 43.4% during the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 27,647 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 8,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 270.1% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,048 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $122,000 after buying an additional 8,063 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.