Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $27.96, but opened at $26.26. Viking Therapeutics shares last traded at $25.49, with a volume of 1,687,139 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VKTX. Raymond James lifted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.31.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $49.20. The stock has a market cap of $3.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.55 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.25) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 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 transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’s 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 owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,464,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 446.7% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,357,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $54,615,000 after purchasing an additional 1,108,972 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 228.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,479,596 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $59,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,125 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $24,888,000. Finally, Man Group plc grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 3,373.4% during the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 448,732 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $18,057,000 after buying an additional 435,813 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.