Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 1.6% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) traded down 1.6% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $29.82 and last traded at $30.38. Approximately 731,128 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 3,974,455 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.89.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective 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 increased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.67.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.1 %

The company’s 50-day moving average is $32.20 and its 200-day moving average is $48.64. The firm has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.64 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.25) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 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 value of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % 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 ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $604,000. Lighthouse Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $563,000. United Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $234,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 47,547 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,913,000 after acquiring an additional 2,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mpwm Advisory Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $170,000. 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.