Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Up 0.5%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) shares rose 0.5% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $58.93 and last traded at $57.26. Approximately 709,701 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 4,817,196 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VKTX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. Raymond James increased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Maxim Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $111.78.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 5.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -61.57 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $55.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.23.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.19) EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $4,986,005.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 174,854 shares in the company, valued at $13,059,845.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at $20,689,572.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $4,986,005.64. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 174,854 shares in the company, valued at $13,059,845.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 200,641 shares of company stock valued at $12,686,992 over the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 3.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,284,352 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,498,000 after buying an additional 171,995 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 100.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 137,583 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,560,000 after buying an additional 68,921 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 147,452 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,744,000 after buying an additional 13,097 shares in the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,366 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 917 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 1,557.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 371,604 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,916,000 after buying an additional 349,186 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is 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.