Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CFO Greg Zante Sells 50,309 Shares of Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Greg Zante also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, October 28th, Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total value of $10,088,541.07.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $42.53 on Tuesday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.14 and a 52-week high of $99.41. The stock has a market cap of $4.74 billion, a PE ratio of -45.73 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.95.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.23) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.75.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 29.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 593,528 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $37,576,000 after acquiring an additional 136,729 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 296.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,190 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 11,362 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth approximately $240,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 51.3% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 5,416 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 1,836 shares during the period. Finally, Second Line Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 38,118 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,413,000 after buying an additional 9,699 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is 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.