Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $116.00 to $138.00. The stock had previously closed at $69.19, but opened at $77.51. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Viking Therapeutics shares last traded at $81.71, with a volume of 5,346,560 shares.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on VKTX. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $37.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.89.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total value of $838,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,264,882 shares in the company, valued at $54,243,923.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total value of $838,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,264,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,243,923.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.90, for a total value of $268,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 180,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,235,067. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 374,079 shares of company stock worth $9,729,653 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Retirement Group LLC lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 75.0% in the second quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter worth $36,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $37,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 66.5% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,346 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 3.1 %

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.31.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.25). During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.26) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.1 EPS for the current year.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

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.