StockNews.com Upgrades Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) to “Sell”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on VKTX. Maxim Group reiterated a buy rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an overweight rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Truist Financial reiterated a buy rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an overweight rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $62.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -67.01 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $8.28 and a one year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.19) EPS. On average, analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 362,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total transaction of $6,671,161.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813 in the last quarter. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. 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 acquiring an additional 97,552 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 70.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,422,000. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted 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 period. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $262,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.