Raymond James Financial Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) had its price objective decreased by Raymond James Financial from $125.00 to $122.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Raymond James Financial currently has a strong-buy rating on the biotechnology company's stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 28th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $86.92.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VKTX traded down $1.22 on Thursday, hitting $33.20. 3,791,234 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,116,839. The business's fifty day moving average is $28.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.59. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $18.92 and a 12 month high of $81.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.70 and a beta of 0.62.

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 the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.14). During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.20) earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up NaN% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total value of $747,514.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,388,014 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $66,386,789.20. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 4,266 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total value of $118,466.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 377,535 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 35,421 shares of company stock valued at $984,405. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 2.2% during the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 14,961 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 64.0% during the second quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 65,039 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,724,000 after acquiring an additional 25,387 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 79.4% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 6,355 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $168,000 after acquiring an additional 2,813 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 34.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 14,607 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $387,000 after purchasing an additional 3,779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 5.4% in the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,590 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 488 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.