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

HC Wainwright restated their buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $90.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

VKTX has been the topic of several other research reports. Maxim Group restated a buy rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $74.31 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.39. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $8.28 and a one year high of $99.41. The firm has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -79.90 and a beta of 1.05.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $701,250.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total value of $7,230,152.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,184,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,707,779.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $701,250.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 329,079 shares of company stock worth $8,769,653. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 63.6% during the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 560,180 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,201,000 after acquiring an additional 217,827 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 1,557.6% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 371,604 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,916,000 after purchasing an additional 349,186 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 100.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 137,583 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,560,000 after purchasing an additional 68,921 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 3.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,284,352 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,498,000 after purchasing an additional 171,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 924.4% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 82,099 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 74,085 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.