Insider Selling: Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CEO Sells 115,859 Shares of Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total transaction of $6,671,161.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $53.05 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $54.99 and its 200 day moving average is $57.43. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $8.28 and a one year high of $99.41. The firm has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -57.04 and a beta of 1.03.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.19) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Raymond James increased their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Maxim Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.78.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 370.7% during the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 353 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,379 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,015,000 after buying an additional 351 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 7,457 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the period. Finally, LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $37,000. 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.