Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Down 2% – Here’s Why

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price traded down 2% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $29.52 and last traded at $29.87. 903,330 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 3,903,847 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.48.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price objective (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Maxim Group reduced their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, thirteen 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 an average price target of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $37.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.48. The firm has a market cap of $3.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.26 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the company’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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’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 $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,715,438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $672,629,000 after purchasing an additional 96,008 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,713 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $75,704,000 after purchasing an additional 17,046 shares in the last quarter. Braidwell LP raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,479,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,542,000 after purchasing an additional 322,689 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 228.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,479,596 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,125 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 446.7% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,357,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $54,615,000 after purchasing an additional 1,108,972 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.