Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Sell

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) to a sell rating in a research report released on Thursday morning.

VKTX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial restated a buy rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Maxim Group reissued a buy rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $111.56.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX opened at $50.77 on Thursday. Viking Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $8.28 and a twelve month high of $99.41. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $63.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 174,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,059,845.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $27,413,639.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $4,986,005.64. Following the completion of the transaction, 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. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $239,000. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,889,000. Artal Group S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $20,817,000. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 28,154.0% in the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 91,543 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,507,000 after buying an additional 91,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castleark Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $4,566,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.