Insider Selling: Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CEO Sells 194,490 Shares of Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of VKTX opened at $40.60 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a PE ratio of -43.66 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $50.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.75. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $19.15 and a 12 month high of $99.41.

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 period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict 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. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. One equities 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 593,528 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $37,576,000 after acquiring an additional 136,729 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 296.8% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,190 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 11,362 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $240,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 5,416 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $343,000 after buying an additional 1,836 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Second Line Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 38,118 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,413,000 after buying an additional 9,699 shares during the period. 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.