Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Down 0.6% – Here’s What Happened

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price fell 0.6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $29.06 and last traded at $29.37. 1,432,975 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 4,007,619 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.55.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VKTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 target price (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.31.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.45 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.25) EPS. Research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $604,000. Lighthouse Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $563,000. United Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $234,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 47,547 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,913,000 after acquiring an additional 2,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $170,000. 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.