Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 0.9%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price traded down 0.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $63.51 and last traded at $64.15. 578,291 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 4,693,678 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.76.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VKTX. Raymond James raised their price objective 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 initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Maxim Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.78.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $54.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.15 billion, a PE ratio of -70.08 and a beta of 1.03.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.19) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total value of $7,426,846.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,954,196.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 16,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.22, for a total transaction of $995,520.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $591,090. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total transaction of $7,426,846.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $154,954,196.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 283,541 shares of company stock valued at $17,319,171 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,157,000 after purchasing an additional 97,552 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 70.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,422,000. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,727,000 after acquiring an additional 311,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $262,000. 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.