Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Down 4% – Should You Sell?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) was down 4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $24.17 and last traded at $24.64. Approximately 1,061,747 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 3,890,023 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.68.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on VKTX. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Maxim Group cut their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.18.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 6.6 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $29.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.32. The stock has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of -22.62 and a beta of 0.84.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 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 value of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 quarter. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.