HC Wainwright Reaffirms Buy Rating for Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at HC Wainwright in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $102.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price target suggests a potential upside of 151.23% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on VKTX. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. B. Riley began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $40.60 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a PE ratio of -43.66 and a beta of 0.95. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $19.15 and a 52 week high of $99.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $50.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.64.

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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,455. This represents a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 443,701 shares of company stock valued at $23,898,520. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 4,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.