Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Rating Upgraded by Barclays

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Barclays to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on VKTX. Wall Street Zen cut Viking Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Sunday, October 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $107.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.44.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $25.47 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of -5.47 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $32.48 and a 200-day moving average of $33.13. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $25.28 and a one year high of $43.15.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.21) by $0.11. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.58) earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -4.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 148,517 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.32, for a total transaction of $4,948,586.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,572,441 shares in the company, valued at $85,713,734.12. The trade was a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 21,217 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.47, for a total value of $710,132.99. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 212,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,102,467.88. This represents a 9.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 187,951 shares of company stock valued at $6,268,442 in the last three months. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 59,900.0% in the 2nd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 2,400 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 2,396 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $3,532,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,823,000. RFG Advisory LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 142,790 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,570,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 16,533 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $645,000 after buying an additional 577 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

Viking Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. The company’s research programs are aimed at conditions including obesity, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), and other diseases involving the liver and metabolism.

Viking’s leading program is VK2735, an investigational dual agonist of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptors.