Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Up 1%

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) were up 1% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $77.52 and last traded at $76.15. Approximately 1,360,055 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 5,514,446 shares. The stock had previously closed at $75.42.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VKTX shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 15th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $8.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -82.18 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.78.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total transaction of $7,230,152.73. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,184,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,707,779.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Harbor Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth about $861,000. Lewis Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $1,322,000. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at $120,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $3,375,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at $2,385,000. 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.