Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 2.2%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price fell 2.2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $62.65 and last traded at $63.26. 614,230 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 5,759,688 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.67.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James raised their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $37.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 3.0 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $6.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -68.76 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $64.97 and a 200 day moving average of $32.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25). During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.26) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,184,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,707,779.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $701,250.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 329,079 shares of company stock valued at $8,769,653. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC now owns 4,817 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 399 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 66,575 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,108,000 after purchasing an additional 605 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 39,321 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $732,000 after purchasing an additional 609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 20.7% during the 2nd quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 4,526 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.