Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Up 2% – Still a Buy?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price rose 2% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $54.73 and last traded at $54.51. Approximately 2,571,782 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 4,522,554 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.42.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. B. Riley initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.87. The company has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -58.61 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $889,790.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $768,455. The trade was a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,293,756.55. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009 in the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

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