Citigroup Begins Coverage on Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Analysts at Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price suggests a potential upside of 20.79% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James increased their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. B. Riley started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.77.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $31.46 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.83 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $23.81 and a 52 week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,052,176,000 after purchasing an additional 79,149 shares during the last quarter. Braidwell LP grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the third quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,248,000 after purchasing an additional 50,072 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,565,000 after buying an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,902,000 after buying an additional 143,675 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 728,652 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,321,000 after buying an additional 13,055 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.