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

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

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VKTX shares. B. Riley began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price target on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, January 17th.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of VKTX opened at $32.75 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.17 and a 200 day moving average of $54.56. The company has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.21 and a beta of 0.95. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $22.51 and a 12 month high of $99.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 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 value of $2,317,691.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,293,756.55. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 301,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,920,189. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised 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 buying an additional 994,801 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% during the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after purchasing an additional 452,344 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $18,443,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% in the 3rd quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,677,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,251,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently 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.