Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 4.9% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) fell 4.9% on Monday after Maxim Group lowered their price target on the stock from $120.00 to $70.00. Maxim Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Viking Therapeutics traded as low as $31.00 and last traded at $30.97. 886,719 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 3,895,525 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.56.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price objective (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.92.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Oak Ridge Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $837,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 43.5% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 102,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,478,000 after purchasing an additional 31,011 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $999,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 88.0% during the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 36,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,322,000 after purchasing an additional 17,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 131,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,316,000 after purchasing an additional 62,956 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $39.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.17 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.