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

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $102.00 price target on the biotechnology company's stock. HC Wainwright's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 166.46% from the company's current price.

Several other research firms also recently commented on VKTX. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $74.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 18.0 %

VKTX traded down $8.42 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $38.28. 13,051,834 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,455,083. The company has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -41.16 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $58.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.06. Viking Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $17.23 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.23) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total value of $10,088,541.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,366 shares in the company, valued at $11,442,929.26. The trade was a 46.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009 over the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $63,565,000 after buying an additional 994,801 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $80,350,000 after acquiring an additional 452,344 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $18,443,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% during the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $28,677,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares during the period. Finally, Nepsis Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $11,251,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.