Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Receives Buy Rating from HC Wainwright

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by HC Wainwright in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $102.00 price objective on the biotechnology company's stock. HC Wainwright's price target indicates a potential upside of 230.20% from the company's current price.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on VKTX. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Finally, Maxim Group decreased their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $96.31.

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Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VKTX stock traded up $1.16 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $30.89. 4,579,969 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,009,541. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of -30.89 and a beta of 0.90. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $32.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.82. Viking Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $24.41 and a 1-year high of $89.10.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. Insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,715,438 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $672,629,000 after acquiring an additional 96,008 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,713 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $75,704,000 after acquiring an additional 17,046 shares in the last quarter. Braidwell LP lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,479,666 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $59,542,000 after acquiring an additional 322,689 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 228.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,479,596 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $59,540,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029,125 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 446.7% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,357,241 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $54,615,000 after acquiring an additional 1,108,972 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.