Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Monday after HC Wainwright raised their price target on the stock from $90.00 to $102.00. The stock had previously closed at $72.88, but opened at $78.30. HC Wainwright currently has a buy rating on the stock. Viking Therapeutics shares last traded at $73.39, with a volume of 6,668,368 shares changing hands.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $109.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total value of $1,195,818.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $546,535. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 525,473 shares of company stock valued at $37,088,158 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 15.4% during the third quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC now owns 46,865 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,967,000 after buying an additional 6,270 shares during the period. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 88.0% in the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 36,666 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $2,322,000 after purchasing an additional 17,159 shares in the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $957,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 712.5% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 10,489 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $664,000 after purchasing an additional 9,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cahill Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 9.5% in the third quarter. Cahill Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,780 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $872,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 13.4 %

The stock's 50 day moving average is $64.44 and its 200 day moving average is $61.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -68.76 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 last year, the firm posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

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.