Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 9% – Time to Sell?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price fell 9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $24.44 and last traded at $25.44. 3,862,980 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 4,018,363 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.96.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on VKTX shares. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Raymond James upped their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Maxim Group cut their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.31.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a PE ratio of -26.51 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.60.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.25) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 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 value of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $51,464,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 446.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,357,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $54,615,000 after buying an additional 1,108,972 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 228.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,479,596 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $59,540,000 after buying an additional 1,029,125 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $24,888,000. Finally, Man Group plc boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 3,373.4% during the 4th quarter. Man Group plc now owns 448,732 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $18,057,000 after acquiring an additional 435,813 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.