Brian Lian Sells 216,130 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Brian Lian also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, August 21st, Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $69,900.00.
• On Monday, August 19th, Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total value of $7,426,846.00.
• On Tuesday, July 30th, Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of VKTX opened at $70.47 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $59.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.01. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.28 and a 52 week high of $99.41. The stock has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -75.77 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.19) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.60.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,157,000 after acquiring an additional 97,552 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 70.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,422,000. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $23,727,000 after acquiring an additional 311,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $262,000. 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.