Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Up 0.6%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price rose 0.6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $76.44 and last traded at $74.74. Approximately 1,302,271 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 5,546,540 shares. The stock had previously closed at $74.31.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James raised their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $37.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.56. The company has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of -80.37 and a beta of 1.05.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.25) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.05 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $701,250.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total value of $7,230,152.73. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,184,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,707,779.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 329,079 shares of company stock valued at $8,769,653 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Perpetual Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $78,586,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 59.6% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,202,228 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,379,000 after purchasing an additional 822,156 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $12,341,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after acquiring an additional 525,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 194.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 765,320 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,472,000 after acquiring an additional 505,578 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.