Analysts Set Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Price Target at $86.42

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $86.4167.

Several analysts have commented on the stock. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 24th.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 121.5% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 29,721 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $718,000 after buying an additional 16,302 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Management Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $241,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 9,209.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 24,392 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $589,000 after buying an additional 24,130 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter worth $1,367,000. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 77.7% in the second quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 63,546 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,684,000 after buying an additional 27,795 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 4.1%

VKTX stock opened at $33.56 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.93 and a beta of 0.64. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $18.92 and a 12 month high of $81.73. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.08.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.14). The firm’s quarterly revenue was up NaN% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.20) EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal 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.