William Blair Reiterates Outperform Rating for Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

William Blair reissued their outperform rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) in a research report released on Wednesday morning,RTT News reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on VKTX. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.80.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $51.53 on Wednesday. Viking Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $11.21 and a twelve month high of $99.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $64.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.76.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced 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 period last year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. Equities analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 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.