Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 2%

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) fell 2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $64.50 and last traded at $65.17. 911,268 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 5,809,479 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.47.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on VKTX. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $37.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 2.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a PE ratio of -70.76 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $64.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.68.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics 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 owns 2,264,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,243,923.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total transaction of $838,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,264,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,243,923.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 359,079 shares of company stock worth $9,461,153. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 63.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 560,180 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,201,000 after acquiring an additional 217,827 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1,557.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 371,604 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,916,000 after acquiring an additional 349,186 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 100.4% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 137,583 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,560,000 after acquiring an additional 68,921 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,284,352 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,498,000 after acquiring an additional 171,995 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 924.4% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 82,099 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $909,000 after acquiring an additional 74,085 shares during the last quarter. 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.