Analysts Set Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) PT at $97.67

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) have earned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $95.18.

VKTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Maxim Group decreased their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $604,000. Lighthouse Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $563,000. United Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $234,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 47,547 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,913,000 after buying an additional 2,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $170,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $26.13 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $30.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.85. The company has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of -26.13 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $24.41 and a 1-year high of $84.70.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.25) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.