Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Up 7.7%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price shot up 7.7% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $11.40 and last traded at $11.34. 600,799 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 2,907,123 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.53.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 4th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $32.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, October 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.25.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a PE ratio of -12.12 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.62.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 25th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by ($0.01). As a group, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.92 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 166,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $500,000 after buying an additional 11,200 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 32,893 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 5,606 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 26.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 325,748 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $977,000 after purchasing an additional 67,835 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,147,461 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $15,442,000 after purchasing an additional 27,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 29.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,375,485 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after purchasing an additional 312,377 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.13% of the company’s stock.

About Viking Therapeutics

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.