Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Down 1% – Should You Sell?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) dropped 1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $53.88 and last traded at $54.51. Approximately 1,186,695 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 4,518,137 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.06.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a 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. initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.80.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 1.0 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of $64.72 and a 200 day moving average of $61.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a PE ratio of -58.61 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,455. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total value of $7,426,846.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,954,196.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $889,790.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $768,455. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 506,687 shares of company stock valued at $36,029,679 in the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $294,380,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $638,429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,403,820 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,565,000 after acquiring an additional 994,801 shares in the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $55,098,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at $54,295,000. 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.