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

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) have earned an average rating of “Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, 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 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $106.75.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VKTX. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,455. The trade was a 53.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $239,000. CWM LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 70.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 112.7% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,750 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $835,000 after acquiring an additional 8,344 shares in the last quarter. World Equity Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter worth about $331,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 25.8% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 308,446 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $16,351,000 after purchasing an additional 63,206 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $47.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -51.47 and a beta of 0.88. Viking Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $17.23 and a 12-month high of $99.41. The business’s 50 day moving average is $60.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.61.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.23) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.