Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 4.8% – What’s Next?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) shares fell 4.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $33.11 and last traded at $33.18. 1,010,067 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 65% from the average session volume of 2,927,458 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.86.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VKTX shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.49 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $47.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.31.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 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 firm’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 transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $889,790.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,455. This trade represents a 53.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 443,701 shares of company stock valued at $23,898,520. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew 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 worth $63,565,000 after acquiring an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after purchasing an additional 452,344 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $18,443,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% during the 3rd quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,677,000 after buying an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth $11,251,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

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.