Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Up 1.9%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) was up 1.9% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $66.29 and last traded at $65.93. Approximately 454,363 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 4,435,090 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.69.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 0.3 %

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.77. The company has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -70.85 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.19) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,250. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $660,250. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $135,596,696.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 516,671 shares of company stock worth $33,810,813 in the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,379 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 12,278 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 7,457 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LifeSteps Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.