Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 0.6% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) traded down 0.6% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $29.06 and last traded at $29.37. 1,432,975 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 4,007,619 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.55.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 target price (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Maxim Group cut their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.31.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $32.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.82. The company has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.89 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.