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

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities researchers at HC Wainwright in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $102.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 291.22% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on VKTX. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Maxim Group cut their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Finally, B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.67.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 6.8 %

VKTX traded down $1.91 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $26.07. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,375,865 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,954,422. The company has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.07 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.14. Viking Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $24.41 and a 1 year high of $89.10.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % 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 in the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $604,000. Lighthouse Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $563,000. United Advisor Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $234,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 47,547 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,913,000 after buying an additional 2,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $170,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.