Viking Therapeutics’ (VKTX) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright restated their buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $102.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on VKTX. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $39.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -42.27 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.64. Viking Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $20.28 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the 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 directly owns 149,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,442,929.26. This represents a 46.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,455. This represents a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 443,701 shares of company stock worth $23,898,520. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.