Oppenheimer Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Oppenheimer restated their outperform rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Oppenheimer currently has a $138.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

VKTX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an overweight rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Maxim Group reissued a buy rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an overweight rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a strong-buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 1.1 %

VKTX opened at $61.63 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -66.27 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.87. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $8.28 and a 52 week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.19) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total value of $1,195,818.58. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $546,535. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,157,000 after buying an additional 97,552 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 70.6% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,422,000. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 311,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $262,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.