Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Coverage Initiated at Piper Sandler

Equities researchers at Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 47.23% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on VKTX. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. B. Riley began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $50.26 on Monday. Viking Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $14.02 and a 1-year high of $99.41. The company has a market capitalization of $5.60 billion, a PE ratio of -54.04 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $62.15 and a 200-day moving average of $59.35.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $889,790.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $768,455. This trade represents a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was 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 owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 8.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,052,176,000 after buying an additional 79,149 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after acquiring an additional 452,344 shares during the last quarter. Braidwell LP boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $73,248,000 after purchasing an additional 50,072 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,565,000 after purchasing an additional 994,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,902,000 after purchasing an additional 143,675 shares during 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.