Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Receives Average Rating of "Buy" from Analysts

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.

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

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VKTX. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total value of $118,424.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,682,001.60. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 4,266 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total transaction of $118,466.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 377,535 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,484,146.95. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,421 shares of company stock valued at $984,405 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 121.5% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 29,721 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 16,302 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 9,209.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 24,392 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $589,000 after buying an additional 24,130 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $429,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $220,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX traded up $0.34 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $26.00. The stock had a trading volume of 10,551,665 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,028,326. Viking Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $18.92 and a 1-year high of $81.73. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $31.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.99 and a beta of 0.67.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.14). During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.20) EPS. Viking Therapeutics's revenue was up NaN% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.