Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Down 0% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) dropped 0% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $27.70 and last traded at $28.34. Approximately 587,745 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 3,950,086 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VKTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price target (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Maxim Group cut their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.67.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 0.8 %

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $31.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.91. The company has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a PE ratio of -28.19 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849 over the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 131,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,316,000 after buying an additional 62,956 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 715,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $45,304,000 after purchasing an additional 44,122 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 109.1% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 34,023 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 17,754 shares during the last quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 122.4% in the fourth quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 80,602 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,243,000 after purchasing an additional 44,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 103.1% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 42,612 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,715,000 after purchasing an additional 21,627 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.