Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Up 5.6% on Analyst Upgrade

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price traded up 5.6% during mid-day trading on Friday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from $116.00 to $118.00. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Viking Therapeutics traded as high as $69.78 and last traded at $68.27. 2,867,266 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 40% from the average session volume of 4,805,861 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.68.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price objective for the company. Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.78.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total value of $22,136,890.50. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 348,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,413,639.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total value of $22,136,890.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at $27,413,639.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $4,986,005.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 174,854 shares in the company, valued at $13,059,845.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 1,557.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 371,604 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,916,000 after buying an additional 349,186 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 100.4% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 137,583 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,560,000 after buying an additional 68,921 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,157,000 after buying an additional 97,552 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $1,422,000. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $23,727,000 after buying an additional 311,681 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 5.6 %

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.89. The company has a market cap of $7.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -73.41 and a beta of 1.03.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.19) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.