Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

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

VKTX has been the subject of several other research reports. Truist Financial upped their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 7.9 %

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $74.31 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.79. Viking Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $8.28 and a 12-month high of $99.41. The company has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -79.90 and a beta of 1.05.

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, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.25) EPS. On average, analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total transaction of $838,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,264,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,243,923.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total transaction of $838,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,264,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,243,923.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $701,250.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 329,079 shares of company stock valued at $8,769,653 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Perpetual Ltd bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth about $78,586,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 59.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,202,228 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,379,000 after acquiring an additional 822,156 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $12,341,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after acquiring an additional 525,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 194.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 765,320 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,472,000 after acquiring an additional 505,578 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.