B. Riley Upgrades Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) to “Strong-Buy”

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) was upgraded by equities research analysts at B. Riley to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also commented on VKTX. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $52.59 on Thursday. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $11.55 and a one year high of $99.41. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $63.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.55 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.23) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,455. This trade represents a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter worth $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.