Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Up 1.9%

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) traded up 1.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $66.29 and last traded at $65.93. 454,363 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 4,435,090 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.69.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VKTX. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, June 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $60.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.77. The firm has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -70.85 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $20,689,572.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $20,689,572.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813 over the last quarter. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 2,403,820 shares in the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $294,380,000. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its holdings 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 valued at $23,727,000 after buying an additional 311,681 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $20,841,000 after buying an additional 525,296 shares during the period. Finally, Perpetual Ltd acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at $78,586,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.