Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 0.4% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) dropped 0.4% on Friday . The company traded as low as $63.54 and last traded at $63.83. Approximately 449,465 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 4,422,106 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.11.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on VKTX shares. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 1.3 %

The stock has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -69.85 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.79.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.19) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total value of $1,029,825.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at about $37,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 140.8% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 123.8% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 1,258 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.