Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Down 12.6% – Here’s Why

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) traded down 12.6% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $29.20 and last traded at $29.76. 4,326,532 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 3% from the average session volume of 4,447,204 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.07.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price target (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.20 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $36.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.07.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.25) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.