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

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price traded down 0.6% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $52.17 and last traded at $53.11. 864,190 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 4,514,457 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.42.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. B. Riley initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $63.24 and its 200-day moving average is $59.91. The firm has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -57.11 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.23) EPS. Analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,455. This represents a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,052,176,000 after acquiring an additional 79,149 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after purchasing an additional 452,344 shares during the last quarter. Braidwell LP lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,248,000 after buying an additional 50,072 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,565,000 after acquiring an additional 994,801 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,902,000 after purchasing an additional 143,675 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.