Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 0.7%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) shares were down 0.7% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $65.50 and last traded at $66.46. Approximately 895,707 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 5,913,449 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on VKTX shares. Maxim Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 15th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $37.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -72.25 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $64.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.68.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.25). During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.26) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total value of $838,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,264,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,243,923.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total transaction of $691,500.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total value of $838,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,264,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,243,923.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 359,079 shares of company stock worth $9,461,153. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 2,039.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,280,944 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $87,928,000 after acquiring an additional 5,034,102 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 237.9% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,894,923 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $111,767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,854,645 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 21,586.9% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,961,561 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,007,000 after purchasing an additional 2,947,905 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $28,396,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $3,638,000. 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.