Insider Selling: Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CFO Sells 4,266 Shares of Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total transaction of $118,424.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,660 shares in the company, valued at $4,682,001.60. The trade was a 2.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $28.16 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.92 and a fifty-two week high of $81.73. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.49 and a beta of 0.62.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.10). During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.26) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VKTX. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.15.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 1,621.4% in the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,205 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 222,100.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 2,221 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently 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.