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

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $106.75.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. B. Riley assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,455. This represents a 53.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 443,701 shares of company stock worth $23,898,520. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,052,176,000 after acquiring an additional 79,149 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Braidwell LP raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,248,000 after purchasing an additional 50,072 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,565,000 after buying an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,902,000 after buying an additional 143,675 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX opened at $42.53 on Tuesday. Viking Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $18.14 and a 52-week high of $99.41. The firm has a market cap of $4.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.73 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s fifty day moving average is $51.93 and its 200-day moving average is $56.95.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.