Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Viking Therapeutics Call Options (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders purchased 36,829 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 107% compared to the average volume of 17,821 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Maxim Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.78.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total transaction of $1,195,818.58. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $546,535. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total value of $1,195,818.58. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $546,535. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total transaction of $6,671,161.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 154,671 shares of company stock worth $8,896,805. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 370.7% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 353 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the period. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 17.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX traded up $9.96 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $66.67. 7,277,555 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,691,619. Viking Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $8.28 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.27. The firm has a market cap of $7.35 billion, a PE ratio of -65.12 and a beta of 1.03.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.19) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

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.