Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Receives Consensus Rating of "Buy" from Analysts

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $97.67.

VKTX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Maxim Group decreased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 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 value of $2,317,691.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the 3rd 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 during the period. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 4,980 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 28,929 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,164,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX traded down $0.89 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $28.39. 334,799 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,965,969. The company has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of -28.42 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $24.41 and a twelve month high of $89.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.33.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.