Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) rose 1.9% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $68.48 and last traded at $68.21. Approximately 333,223 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 94% from the average daily volume of 5,903,988 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.95.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.46 billion, a PE ratio of -72.24 and a beta of 1.05.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25). During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.26) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total value of $7,230,152.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,184,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,707,779.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 359,079 shares of company stock valued at $9,461,153 in the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 237.9% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,894,923 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $111,767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,854,645 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,157,000 after buying an additional 97,552 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 2,039.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,280,944 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $87,928,000 after buying an additional 5,034,102 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 5,145,112 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $95,751,000 after buying an additional 571,796 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 21,586.9% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,961,561 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,007,000 after buying an additional 2,947,905 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.