Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Upgraded by B. Riley to Strong-Buy Rating

B. Riley upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on VKTX. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $52.59 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $63.73 and a 200-day moving average of $60.52. The company has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.55 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $11.55 and a 52 week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.23) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,250. The trade was a 52.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009 in the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors 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.