Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Up 6.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price traded up 6.8% during mid-day trading on Friday after Raymond James raised their price target on the stock from $116.00 to $118.00. Raymond James currently has a strong-buy rating on the stock. Viking Therapeutics traded as high as $69.30 and last traded at $69.07. 837,610 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 4,791,668 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.68.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Maxim Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.78.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $4,986,005.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 174,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,059,845.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $4,986,005.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 174,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,059,845.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total value of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 348,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,413,639.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $638,429,000 after buying an additional 2,403,820 shares during the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $294,380,000. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position 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 valued at $23,727,000 after acquiring an additional 311,681 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after purchasing an additional 525,296 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at $78,586,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 5.1 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $55.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.89. The company has a market cap of $7.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -74.27 and a beta of 1.03.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.19) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.