Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 1.3% – Should You Sell?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) shares fell 1.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $28.81 and last traded at $28.93. 998,564 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 3,938,253 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.32.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James boosted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their price target 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. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 0.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $3.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.57 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.26.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the firm’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 $8,314,447.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,715,438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $672,629,000 after buying an additional 96,008 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,713 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $75,704,000 after buying an additional 17,046 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 446.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,357,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $54,615,000 after buying an additional 1,108,972 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,464,000. Finally, Braidwell LP raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the third quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,248,000 after purchasing an additional 50,072 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.