Brian Lian Sells 216,130 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Brian Lian also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, August 21st, Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $69,900.00.
• On Monday, August 19th, Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total value of $7,426,846.00.
• On Tuesday, July 30th, Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock traded up $2.31 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $70.47. 7,991,842 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,542,550. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.53. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.28 and a 52 week high of $99.41. The firm has a market cap of $7.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -75.35 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.19) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VKTX shares. Raymond James upped 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. Maxim Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.60.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $638,429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,403,820 shares during the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at $294,380,000. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position 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 valued at $23,727,000 after purchasing an additional 311,681 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $78,586,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.