Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Up 2.3%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) shares shot up 2.3% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $64.91 and last traded at $64.12. 2,763,100 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 3,243,064 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.65.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on VKTX. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.78.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 8.9 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $6.44 billion, a P/E ratio of -62.78 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.23.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 posted ($0.19) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $69,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,609,397.30. 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $546,535. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $69,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,609,397.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 290,241 shares of company stock valued at $17,786,475. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $638,429,000 after buying an additional 2,403,820 shares in the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $294,380,000. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,727,000 after purchasing an additional 311,681 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after purchasing an additional 525,296 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $78,586,000. 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.