Piper Sandler Has Lowered Expectations for Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) had its price target reduced by equities research analysts at Piper Sandler from $74.00 to $71.00 in a research report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price suggests a potential upside of 118.06% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, B. Riley began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.92.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of VKTX opened at $32.56 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $40.05 and a 200 day moving average of $53.88. The company has a market capitalization of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.01 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $25.34 and a 12 month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 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 transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the firm’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 $2,150,709.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $233,000. AGF Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 50.1% in the fourth quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 164,263 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,610,000 after purchasing an additional 54,814 shares during the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 37.4% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 6,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $279,000 after buying an additional 1,890 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 26,835 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 4,012 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 79.4% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.