Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Receives $86.92 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts have given Viking Therapeutics, Inc. a consensus recommendation of "Buy", with an average 12-month price target of $86.92.
• Insiders at Viking Therapeutics have sold significant shares recently, with both the COO and CFO each selling 4,266 shares at around $27.76.
• The biotechnology company reported a loss of $0.58 per share in its latest earnings, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44.

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Buy" from the fourteen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $86.9231.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total transaction of $747,514.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,388,014 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,386,789.20. The trade was a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total transaction of $118,424.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 168,660 shares in the company, valued at $4,682,001.60. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,421 shares of company stock worth $984,405 in the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,846,000. Braidwell LP increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,479,666 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $59,542,000 after purchasing an additional 322,689 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 228.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,479,596 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $59,540,000 after acquiring an additional 1,029,125 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 27.0% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 822,278 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $21,790,000 after buying an additional 174,887 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 52.8% in the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 638,204 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $16,912,000 after buying an additional 220,396 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX traded down $0.03 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $25.66. 8,988,811 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,696,826. Viking Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $18.92 and a 12-month high of $81.73. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $31.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.71. The stock has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.77 and a beta of 0.67.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.14). Viking Therapeutics's revenue was up NaN% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.20) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

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.