Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $97.29.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Finally, B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 price target (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’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 value of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. 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 during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 0.7 %

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $28.87 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.87 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $27.20 and a fifty-two week high of $96.74. The business has a fifty day moving average of $34.82 and a 200-day moving average of $51.07.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.25) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

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.