Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Down 1.3% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) dropped 1.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $40.77 and last traded at $41.70. Approximately 919,009 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 4,468,729 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.25.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Finally, B. Riley started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.54 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a fifty day moving average of $56.65 and a 200 day moving average of $57.63.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,293,756.55. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total value of $10,088,541.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 149,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,442,929.26. This trade represents a 46.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 144,687 shares of company stock worth $11,115,671. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in 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. Perpetual Ltd grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $18,443,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% in the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,677,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $11,251,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.