Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 0.5%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price dropped 0.5% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $80.50 and last traded at $82.90. Approximately 1,516,649 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 6,516,160 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Maxim Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Truist Financial lifted 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. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.89.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $48.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.31. The firm has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -90.11 and a beta of 1.06.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.25). During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.26) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total transaction of $691,500.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 30,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total value of $691,500.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 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 owns 2,184,882 shares in the company, valued at $58,707,779.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 374,079 shares of company stock worth $9,729,653. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. Retirement Group LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 75.0% during the second quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the second quarter worth $36,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $37,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 66.5% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,346 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.