Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Coverage Initiated at B. Riley

Analysts at B. Riley assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. B. Riley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 107.26% from the company’s current price. B. Riley also issued estimates for Viking Therapeutics’ Q4 2024 earnings at ($0.24) EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at ($0.29) EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at ($0.30) EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at ($0.32) EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at ($0.32) EPS, FY2025 earnings at ($1.23) EPS, FY2026 earnings at ($1.74) EPS, FY2027 earnings at ($2.53) EPS and FY2028 earnings at ($1.83) EPS.

VKTX has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James upped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 1.9 %

VKTX opened at $52.59 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of -56.55 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.38. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $11.55 and a 52 week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.23) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $715,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,250. This trade represents a 52.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 2,403,820 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,565,000 after buying an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,350,000 after acquiring an additional 452,344 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $18,443,000. Finally, Artal Group S.A. purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at about $20,817,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.