Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Earns “Buy” Rating from B. Riley

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by B. Riley in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $96.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock, down from their prior price target of $109.00. B. Riley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 195.56% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on VKTX. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.77.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX traded up $1.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $32.48. 2,708,023 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,926,173. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $25.34 and a 12 month high of $99.41. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.01. The company has a market capitalization of $3.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.06 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the business’s 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 $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,565,000 after buying an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $24,888,000. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at $18,443,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% during the 3rd quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,677,000 after buying an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth $11,251,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.