Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Gap Down to $55.32

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $55.32, but opened at $54.01. Viking Therapeutics shares last traded at $54.88, with a volume of 431,478 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on VKTX shares. BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, March 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.56.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 2.1 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -54.27 and a beta of 1.03.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.25) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total transaction of $22,136,890.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,413,639.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total transaction of $22,136,890.50. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,413,639.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $4,986,005.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 174,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,059,845.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 370.7% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 353 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 278 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. 9258 Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,379 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the period. LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 125.6% in the 1st quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,015 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.