Scotiabank Begins Coverage on Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Equities researchers at Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 234.65% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Maxim Group reduced their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $30.48 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.48 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $28.64 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.88.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.25) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Oak Ridge Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $837,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 43.5% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 102,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,478,000 after acquiring an additional 31,011 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $999,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.0% during the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 36,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,322,000 after acquiring an additional 17,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 131,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,316,000 after acquiring an additional 62,956 shares during the last quarter. 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.