Viking Therapeutics’ (VKTX) Buy Rating Reiterated at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reiterated their buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTXFree Report) in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $102.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock.

VKTX has been the subject of a number of other reports. B. Riley started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target for the company. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $106.75.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on VKTX

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $42.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.43 and a beta of 0.88. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $17.23 and a one year high of $99.41. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.95.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTXGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.23) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total value of $10,088,541.07. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,442,929.26. The trade was a 46.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 144,687 shares of company stock valued at $11,115,671 in the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,052,176,000 after buying an additional 79,149 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after acquiring an additional 452,344 shares during the last quarter. Braidwell LP boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $73,248,000 after purchasing an additional 50,072 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew 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 worth $63,565,000 after purchasing an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,902,000 after purchasing an additional 143,675 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Viking Therapeutics

(Get Free Report)

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.

Featured Stories

Analyst Recommendations for Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Receive News & Ratings for Viking Therapeutics Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Viking Therapeutics and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.