Viking Therapeutics' (VKTX) Outperform Rating Reiterated at William Blair

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reissued by stock analysts at William Blair in a report released on Wednesday,RTT News reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $109.80.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of VKTX stock traded up $0.02 on Wednesday, reaching $51.53. 3,496,787 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,548,423. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of -55.41 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $11.21 and a 52 week high of $99.41. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $64.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.76.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at $768,455. The trade was a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $15,308,487.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This represents a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009 over the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 4,306 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.