HC Wainwright Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by research analysts at HC Wainwright in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $102.00 price target on the biotechnology company's stock. HC Wainwright's price target points to a potential upside of 284.62% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on VKTX. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.15.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock traded down $1.65 on Wednesday, hitting $26.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,315,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,071,890. Viking Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $18.92 and a 1 year high of $81.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.46. The company has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.06 and a beta of 0.65.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.10). During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.26) earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan acquired 1,240 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $24.15 per share, for a total transaction of $29,946.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,240 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,946. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 40,753 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,640,000 after buying an additional 3,192 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 27.6% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 8,840 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 1,912 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 94.6% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 7,480 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 3,636 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 107.5% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 42,124 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,697,000 after buying an additional 21,825 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 462,964 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $18,630,000 after buying an additional 41,400 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is currently 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.