Piper Sandler Cuts Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Price Target to $71.00

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) had its price objective decreased by Piper Sandler from $74.00 to $71.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an overweight rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, January 17th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, B. Riley initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $107.08.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 6.1 %

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $31.46 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.46 and its 200-day moving average is $54.01. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $23.81 and a 12 month high of $99.41. The firm has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.83 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.25) EPS. Research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were 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 owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $24,888,000. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 28,929 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,164,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 12,126 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,997 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $885,000 after purchasing an additional 2,689 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 728,652 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,321,000 after purchasing an additional 13,055 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.