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

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $109.80.

VKTX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,455. The trade was a 53.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% during the third quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 4,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $51.53 on Monday. Viking Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $11.21 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.76. The company has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of -55.41 and a beta of 1.00.

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

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.