Greg Zante Sells 131,687 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total transaction of $10,088,541.07. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,442,929.26. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.6 %

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $73.35 on Wednesday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.25 and a 1 year high of $99.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.67. The company has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -78.87 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.23) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 12.9% in the third quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 3,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at $999,000. Emerald Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 339,047 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $21,465,000 after purchasing an additional 12,001 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 119.5% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 139,252 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,816,000 after buying an additional 75,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.9% in the third quarter. Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust now owns 244,526 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $15,481,000 after buying an additional 2,158 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.60.

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.