Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Raymond James Analyst Says

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) had its target price hoisted by analysts at Raymond James from $122.00 to $125.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “strong-buy” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Raymond James’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 297.98% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on VKTX. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.08.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX traded down $2.09 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $31.41. The stock had a trading volume of 5,273,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,813,358. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.17. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $23.81 and a one year high of $99.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.51 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.25) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 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 $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 301,014 shares of company stock worth $12,920,189. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% during the third quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 4,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, S.A. Mason LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.