Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Receives Buy Rating from BTIG Research

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at BTIG Research in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $125.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. BTIG Research’s target price suggests a potential upside of 400.60% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $90.38.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 4.9%

VKTX stock opened at $24.97 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $30.23 and a 200-day moving average of $28.05. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $18.92 and a 12 month high of $81.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.32 and a beta of 0.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.14). During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.20) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up NaN% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 4,266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total transaction of $118,466.82. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 377,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,484,146.95. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total transaction of $118,424.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,682,001.60. The trade was a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 35,421 shares of company stock valued at $984,405. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. PVG Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 24.4% during the 2nd quarter. PVG Asset Management Corp now owns 11,258 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 2,205 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $969,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $132,000. Marex Group plc bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $983,000. Finally, MASO CAPITAL PARTNERS Ltd bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $398,000. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.