Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Down 0.4%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) dropped 0.4% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $67.66 and last traded at $68.34. Approximately 571,169 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 5,961,819 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.62.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 15th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 1.5 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $63.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -73.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25). During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.26) EPS. Analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total value of $7,230,152.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,184,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,707,779.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 359,079 shares of company stock valued at $9,461,153 over the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 2,039.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,280,944 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $87,928,000 after purchasing an additional 5,034,102 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 237.9% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,894,923 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $111,767,000 after buying an additional 4,854,645 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 21,586.9% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,961,561 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,007,000 after buying an additional 2,947,905 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at about $28,396,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $3,638,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% 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.