Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at UBS Group

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) was upgraded by stock analysts at UBS Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on VKTX. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Viking Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 4th. Zacks Research raised shares of Viking Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $87.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.90.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

VKTX stock traded down $2.20 on Wednesday, reaching $25.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,570,039 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,789,389. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $24.94 and a 52 week high of $43.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.40 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $32.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.04.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.21) by $0.11. The business’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.58) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,217 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.47, for a total transaction of $609,722.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 422,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,149,777.20. This trade represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through 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 Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.47, for a total value of $710,132.99. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 212,204 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,102,467.88. This trade represents a 9.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 187,951 shares of company stock worth $6,268,442 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 5.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at about $241,458,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $22,393,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 18.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 542,516 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $17,653,000 after acquiring an additional 82,941 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $20,699,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 525,484 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $17,099,000 after purchasing an additional 11,753 shares in the last quarter. 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.