Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 1.4% – Here’s What Happened

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price dropped 1.4% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $48.40 and last traded at $48.91. Approximately 1,346,447 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 4,532,650 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.58.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James increased their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.80.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 4.9 %

The stock has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of -55.39 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $64.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.82.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $715,850.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $660,250. The trade was a 52.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,052,176,000 after purchasing an additional 79,149 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $638,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403,820 shares during the period. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $294,380,000. Perpetual Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% during the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,350,000 after purchasing an additional 452,344 shares during the period. Finally, Braidwell LP lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the third quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,248,000 after purchasing an additional 50,072 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.