JPMorgan Chase & Co. Begins Coverage on Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm issued an overweight rating and a $80.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on VKTX. Raymond James raised their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Maxim Group restated a buy rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a sell rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Truist Financial restated a buy rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They set an overweight rating and a $105.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $66.73 on Wednesday. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $8.28 and a one year high of $99.41. The company has a market cap of $7.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -71.75 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $58.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.93.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.19) EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total transaction of $1,195,818.58. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $546,535. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total transaction of $6,671,161.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 290,241 shares of company stock valued at $17,786,475 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,157,000 after purchasing an additional 97,552 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 70.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,422,000. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,727,000 after acquiring an additional 311,681 shares during the period. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth approximately $262,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.