Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Lifted to Sell at StockNews.com

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on VKTX. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Raymond James boosted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $37.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. Maxim Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 7.9 %

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $74.31 on Thursday. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $8.28 and a 52 week high of $99.41. The company has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -79.90 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $68.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.79.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.25) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total transaction of $7,230,152.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,184,882 shares in the company, valued at $58,707,779.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total value of $7,230,152.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,184,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,707,779.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 329,079 shares of company stock worth $8,769,653. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 370.7% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 353 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. LifeSteps Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 125.6% in the 1st quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,015 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 39,321 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $732,000 after buying an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently 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.