Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 1.5% – Here’s What Happened

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) fell 1.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $49.90 and last traded at $50.74. 1,199,724 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 4,487,255 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.51.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on VKTX shares. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. 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 price objective for the company. Piper Sandler began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price objective for the company. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $62.15 and a 200-day moving average of $59.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -54.60 and a beta of 0.89.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $768,455. The trade was a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009 in the last ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 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.