Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 0.5%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) shares fell 0.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $80.50 and last traded at $82.90. 1,516,649 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 6,516,160 shares. The stock had previously closed at $83.34.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the topic of a number of research reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.89.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.6 %

The company’s fifty day moving average is $48.96 and its 200-day moving average is $26.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -90.11 and a beta of 1.06.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.25). During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.26) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total value of $7,230,152.73. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,184,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,707,779.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total value of $7,230,152.73. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,184,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,707,779.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 30,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total transaction of $691,500.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 374,079 shares of company stock valued at $9,729,653. 4.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 63.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 560,180 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,201,000 after purchasing an additional 217,827 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 924.4% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 82,099 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $909,000 after acquiring an additional 74,085 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $148,000. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 73.1% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 359,585 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,981,000 after purchasing an additional 151,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 48.5% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 89,741 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $993,000 after purchasing an additional 29,319 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.