Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Raised to Strong-Buy at B. Riley

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) was upgraded by equities researchers at B. Riley to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on VKTX. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $52.59 on Thursday. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $11.55 and a 12 month high of $99.41. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $63.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.52. The stock has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of -56.55 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,250. This represents a 52.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,565,000 after buying an additional 994,801 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% during the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,350,000 after purchasing an additional 452,344 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at $18,443,000. Artal Group S.A. purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth about $20,817,000. Finally, Eventide Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 200,000 shares in 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.