Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 0%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) fell 0% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $67.30 and last traded at $67.94. 554,093 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 5,856,821 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on VKTX. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $37.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 0.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.48 billion, a PE ratio of -73.85 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.44.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.25). During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.26) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Retirement Group LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 75.0% during the 2nd quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.