Insider Selling: Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) COO Sells $1,029,825.38 in Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $53.05 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $54.99 and a 200-day moving average of $57.43. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.28 and a 1 year high of $99.41. The company has a market capitalization of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -57.04 and a beta of 1.03.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.19) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on VKTX. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Finally, Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.78.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 370.7% during the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 353 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently 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.