Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Price Target Increased to $116.00 by Analysts at Oppenheimer

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) had its price objective raised by equities researchers at Oppenheimer from $46.00 to $116.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the biotechnology company's stock. Oppenheimer's target price suggests a potential upside of 36.39% from the stock's previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Maxim Group lifted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. HC Wainwright lifted their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $33.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $61.00.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 121.0 %

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $85.05 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $25.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.41. Viking Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $8.28 and a 12-month high of $90.00. The company has a market capitalization of $8.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -92.44 and a beta of 0.54.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.25). During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.26) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 15,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.90, for a total value of $268,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 180,730 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,235,067. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 374,079 shares of company stock valued at $9,729,653. Company insiders own 4.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC now owns 4,817 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 399 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 0.9% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 66,575 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,108,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 39,321 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $732,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.7% during the 2nd quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 4,526 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 775 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.13% 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.

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