Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Citigroup

Equities research analysts at Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set a "neutral" rating and a $38.00 price target on the biotechnology company's stock. Citigroup's price target would indicate a potential upside of 25.95% from the company's current price.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on VKTX. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $96.92.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX traded down $2.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $30.17. 5,334,104 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,026,807. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $29.82 and a 52 week high of $99.41. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $40.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.92. The company has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.17 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the business earned ($0.25) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was 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 directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 3.4% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 15,753 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $835,000 after buying an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 357.1% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 26,049 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,381,000 after acquiring an additional 20,350 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 114.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 49,311 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $2,614,000 after purchasing an additional 26,270 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the second quarter worth $190,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.