Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Upgraded to “Sell” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) to a sell rating in a report released on Tuesday morning.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Raymond James upped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an overweight rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Maxim Group restated a buy rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.1 %

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $61.63 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $60.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.87. The stock has a market cap of $6.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -66.27 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $8.28 and a 52 week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.19) EPS. Research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was 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 $163,257,979.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 516,671 shares of company stock worth $33,810,813 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $638,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403,820 shares during the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $294,380,000. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,727,000 after buying an additional 311,681 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $20,841,000 after acquiring an additional 525,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $78,586,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.