Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, HC Wainwright Analyst Says

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) had its target price increased by HC Wainwright from $90.00 to $102.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on VKTX. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.80.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $65.87 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -68.67 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $64.46 and its 200-day moving average is $61.78. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $9.34 and a one year high of $99.41.

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

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total value of $10,088,541.07. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 149,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,442,929.26. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,455. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,442,929.26. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 525,473 shares of company stock worth $37,088,158. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter worth $27,000. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. 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.