HC Wainwright Reaffirms Buy Rating for Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

HC Wainwright reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $90.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on VKTX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an overweight rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an overweight rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 5.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $65.84 on Wednesday. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $8.28 and a 12 month high of $99.41. The company has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -70.04 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $61.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.62.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.19) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $660,250. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $715,850.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $660,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 516,671 shares of company stock worth $33,810,813 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter worth $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 140.8% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 123.8% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,258 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 696 shares during the period. 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.