Brokerages Set Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) PT at $109.80

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the twelve research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $109.73.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VKTX shares. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. B. Riley initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th.

Insider Activity

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This represents a 8.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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 value of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,250. This represents a 52.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009 over the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 77.7% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 45,809 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,756,000 after purchasing an additional 20,023 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 195.9% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,942 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $569,000 after acquiring an additional 4,596 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth $377,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $638,429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,403,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 10,278 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $843,000 after acquiring an additional 725 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $52.59 on Monday. Viking Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $11.55 and a 1-year high of $99.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $63.73 and a 200 day moving average of $60.25.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

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.