Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) gapped up prior to trading on Monday after HC Wainwright raised their price target on the stock from $90.00 to $102.00. The stock had previously closed at $72.88, but opened at $78.30. HC Wainwright currently has a buy rating on the stock. Viking Therapeutics shares last traded at $73.39, with a volume of 6,668,368 shares changing hands.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on VKTX. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James raised their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total transaction of $10,088,541.07. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,442,929.26. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 525,473 shares of company stock worth $37,088,158 over the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $638,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403,820 shares during the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $294,380,000. Perpetual Ltd raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after buying an additional 452,344 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,565,000 after buying an additional 994,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 6.3% during the second quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 714,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $37,880,000 after acquiring an additional 42,650 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $7.04 billion, a PE ratio of -68.76 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $64.44 and its 200-day moving average is $61.78.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

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.