Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 0.7%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price dropped 0.7% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $62.60 and last traded at $62.67. Approximately 414,977 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 4,502,627 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.13.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on VKTX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $6.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -67.39 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.88.

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

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief operating officer now 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were 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 owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at $135,596,696.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 516,671 shares of company stock worth $33,810,813. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,157,000 after acquiring an additional 97,552 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 70.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,422,000. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% during 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. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $262,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.