Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) has received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $106.75.

VKTX has been the topic of several recent research reports. 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 target price on the stock. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 443,701 shares of company stock worth $23,898,520 in the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Oak Ridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $837,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth about $999,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 88.0% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 36,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,322,000 after buying an additional 17,159 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 131,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,316,000 after acquiring an additional 62,956 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX stock opened at $42.53 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $51.93 and a 200-day moving average of $56.95. Viking Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $18.14 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The company has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.73 and a beta of 0.95.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 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.