Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Up 0.2%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price rose 0.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $65.32 and last traded at $64.46. Approximately 729,774 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 4,684,363 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.35.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VKTX. Maxim Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.78.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 0.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -69.49 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.45.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.19) earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total value of $1,029,825.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, 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 in the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Aristides Capital LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 120.0% in the 2nd quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 11,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 114.0% during the 2nd 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 period. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 357.1% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 26,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,381,000 after acquiring an additional 20,350 shares in the last quarter. Second Line Capital LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,506,000. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 15,753 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $835,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the period. 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.