Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 2.2% on Insider Selling

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) dropped 2.2% during trading on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $66.18 and last traded at $66.97. Approximately 1,007,703 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 4,488,377 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.48.

Specifically, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,293,756.55. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VKTX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.80.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $6.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -65.16 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.71.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted 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 previous year, the company earned ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at 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 during the period. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 253 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.