Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Down 7.5% – What’s Next?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price dropped 7.5% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $26.77 and last traded at $26.70. Approximately 1,488,918 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 67% from the average daily volume of 4,461,122 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.87.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Maxim Group cut their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Raymond James increased their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 11.0 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $34.82 and a 200-day moving average of $51.07. The company has a market cap of $2.86 billion, a PE ratio of -25.70 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.25) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 43.5% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 102,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,478,000 after buying an additional 31,011 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $999,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.0% during the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 36,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,322,000 after buying an additional 17,159 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 131,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,316,000 after buying an additional 62,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 715,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $45,304,000 after buying an additional 44,122 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.