Investors Purchase High Volume of Viking Therapeutics Call Options (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 33,310 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 73% compared to the average daily volume of 19,200 call options.

Insider Activity

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total value of $1,029,825.38. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 370.7% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 353 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. 9258 Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 2.9% in the first quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,379 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after buying an additional 351 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 3.1% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 12,278 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 5.5% during the second quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 7,457 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $70.47 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.53. The firm has a market cap of $7.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -75.35 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $8.28 and a 52 week high of $99.41.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Maxim Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Raymond James increased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.60.

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.