Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 2.5%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) traded down 2.5% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $60.78 and last traded at $61.08. 616,083 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 4,624,738 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.65.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.78.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -68.95 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $56.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.63.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.19) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total transaction of $1,195,818.58. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $546,535. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total transaction of $1,195,818.58. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $546,535. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total transaction of $6,671,161.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 290,241 shares of company stock worth $17,786,475 over the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 242.7% in the second quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,943 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 7,042 shares during the last quarter. Aristides Capital LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 120.0% in the second quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 11,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $583,000 after buying an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 114.0% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 49,311 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,614,000 after buying an additional 26,270 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 357.1% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 26,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,381,000 after buying an additional 20,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Second Line Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,506,000. Hedge funds and other 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.