Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Now Covered by Scotiabank

Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a sector outperform rating and a $102.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on VKTX. Raymond James boosted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Maxim Group reduced their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $29.50 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $38.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.09. Viking Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $28.64 and a 12-month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 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 transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, 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 valued at $12,782,849 in the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Oak Ridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $837,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 43.5% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 102,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,478,000 after purchasing an additional 31,011 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $999,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.0% during the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 36,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,322,000 after buying an additional 17,159 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 131,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,316,000 after buying an additional 62,956 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.