Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 1.8% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) dropped 1.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $24.41 and last traded at $25.24. Approximately 1,724,165 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average daily volume of 4,539,919 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.70.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on VKTX. Citigroup assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Maxim Group reduced their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 9.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.09 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.85.

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 the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849 in the last ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $51,464,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 446.7% during 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 period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,029,125 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,888,000. Finally, Man Group plc grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 435,813 shares in the last quarter. 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.