Viking Therapeutics’ (VKTX) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Truist Financial

Truist Financial reissued their buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $120.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Maxim Group reiterated a buy rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. HC Wainwright restated a buy rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Raymond James restated a strong-buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. William Blair reiterated an outperform rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $112.38.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $52.02 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $66.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.59. Viking Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $8.28 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of -55.93 and a beta of 1.05.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.08 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $4,986,005.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 174,854 shares in the company, valued at $13,059,845.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total value of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at $27,413,639.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $4,986,005.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 174,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,059,845.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $638,429,000 after buying an additional 2,403,820 shares in the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $294,380,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 59.6% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,202,228 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,379,000 after purchasing an additional 822,156 shares in the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 13.7% in the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 1,279,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $14,159,000 after purchasing an additional 154,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,727,000 after purchasing an additional 311,681 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.