Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 1% – Here’s What Happened

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) shares traded down 1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $47.85 and last traded at $48.61. 1,026,326 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 4,532,492 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.11.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.80.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $64.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.00. The company has a market capitalization of $5.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -52.27 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.23) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $69,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,609,397.30. This trade represents a 0.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,455. This represents a 53.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 377,817 shares of company stock worth $27,607,313. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $294,380,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $638,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403,820 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,565,000 after purchasing an additional 994,801 shares in the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $55,098,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $48,970,000. Hedge funds and other 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.