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

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

VKTX has been the topic of several other reports. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 24th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a buy rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Raymond James reiterated a strong-buy rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a buy rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. They issued an overweight rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $111.56.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $53.01 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $63.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.71. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $8.28 and a one year high of $99.41. The stock has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a PE ratio of -57.00 and a beta of 1.04.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 previous year, the firm earned ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth $294,380,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 59.6% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,202,228 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,379,000 after purchasing an additional 822,156 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $23,727,000 after purchasing an additional 311,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.