Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $46.70, but opened at $43.09. Viking Therapeutics shares last traded at $42.37, with a volume of 2,250,599 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on VKTX. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.75 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $58.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.20.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.23) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,293,756.55. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009 in the last ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,052,176,000 after purchasing an additional 79,149 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after acquiring an additional 452,344 shares during the period. Braidwell LP lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $73,248,000 after purchasing an additional 50,072 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,565,000 after purchasing an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,902,000 after purchasing an additional 143,675 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is 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.