Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Down 5.5%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price dropped 5.5% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $49.15 and last traded at $49.26. Approximately 1,472,492 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 4,868,611 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.12.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VKTX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. BTIG Research raised their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.38.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 8.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $5.27 billion, a PE ratio of -52.52 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.82.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total transaction of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at $27,413,639.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total transaction of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at $27,413,639.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $4,986,005.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 174,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,059,845.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $239,000. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $1,889,000. Artal Group S.A. bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $20,817,000. Comerica Bank lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 28,154.0% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 91,543 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,507,000 after purchasing an additional 91,219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Castleark Management LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $4,566,000. 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.