Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 2.2%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price fell 2.2% on Friday . The company traded as low as $68.90 and last traded at $69.30. 643,732 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 6,007,448 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.87.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VKTX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 15th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $37.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $61.70 and its 200 day moving average is $31.51. The firm has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -74.59 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total value of $691,500.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total value of $691,500.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total transaction of $838,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,264,882 shares in the company, valued at $54,243,923.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 359,079 shares of company stock worth $9,461,153. Insiders own 4.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 7.2% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 166,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 11,200 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 20.5% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 32,893 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 5,606 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 26.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 325,748 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $977,000 after acquiring an additional 67,835 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,147,461 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $15,442,000 after acquiring an additional 27,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 29.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,375,485 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,126,000 after acquiring an additional 312,377 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.