Viking Therapeutics' (VKTX) "Buy" Rating Reaffirmed at Truist Financial

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by equities researchers at Truist Financial in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $120.00 target price on the biotechnology company's stock. Truist Financial's target price would suggest a potential upside of 73.76% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on VKTX. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 15th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Maxim Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $37.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.38.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 11.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX traded down $8.95 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $69.06. The company had a trading volume of 7,460,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,274,713. The stock has a market cap of $7.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -74.26 and a beta of 1.12. Viking Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $8.28 and a 1 year high of $99.41. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $72.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.62.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.25) EPS. Analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Steadfast Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $4,264,000. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $802,000. Bamco Inc. NY increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 59.1% in the first quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 493,259 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $40,447,000 after purchasing an additional 183,192 shares during the last quarter. Aristides Capital LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth approximately $410,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 11.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,417 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $5,037,000 after buying an additional 6,181 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.