Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 0.6% – Here’s Why

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price was down 0.6% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $29.10 and last traded at $29.27. Approximately 643,083 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 3,965,934 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.46.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VKTX. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.67.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 0.7 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $31.70 and a 200 day moving average of $48.17. The company has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.16 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the company earned ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate 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 that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the 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 in the company, 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 valued at $12,782,849 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 131,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,316,000 after buying an additional 62,956 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 715,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $45,304,000 after buying an additional 44,122 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 109.1% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 34,023 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,154,000 after buying an additional 17,754 shares during the period. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 122.4% during the 4th quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 80,602 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,243,000 after purchasing an additional 44,365 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 103.1% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 42,612 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,715,000 after purchasing an additional 21,627 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.