Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the ten research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has assigned 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 $111.78.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on VKTX shares. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Raymond James increased 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. Finally, Maxim Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $546,535. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at $20,689,572.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total transaction of $1,195,818.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $546,535. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 154,671 shares of company stock worth $8,896,805. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $25,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 370.7% during the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 353 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at about $37,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $56.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.25 billion, a PE ratio of -60.98 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.53. Viking Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $8.28 and a twelve month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.19) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.