Insider Selling: Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CFO Sells 50,309 Shares of Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Greg Zante also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, October 28th, Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total transaction of $10,088,541.07.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

VKTX stock traded down $0.36 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $42.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,734,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,071,149. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $51.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.95. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.14 and a twelve month high of $99.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.73 and a beta of 0.95.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VKTX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. B. Riley started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $106.75.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Oak Ridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at $837,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 43.5% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 102,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,478,000 after purchasing an additional 31,011 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $999,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.0% during the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 36,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,322,000 after buying an additional 17,159 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 131,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,316,000 after buying an additional 62,956 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by 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.