Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders acquired 15,473 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 48% compared to the typical volume of 10,481 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 148,517 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.32, for a total value of $4,948,586.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,572,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $85,713,734.12. This represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,217 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.47, for a total transaction of $609,722.99. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 422,760 shares in the company, valued at $14,149,777.20. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 187,951 shares of company stock worth $6,268,442 over the last three months. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,580 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 9,365 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 13.6% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 3,870 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $126,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 0.3% during the second quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 142,790 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,570,000 after acquiring an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 29.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,109 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VKTX shares. Truist Financial started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $83.00 price target on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $107.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Zacks Research raised Viking Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.62.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $32.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.89 and a beta of 0.69. Viking Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $22.96 and a 12-month high of $43.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $35.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.57.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.21) by $0.11. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.58) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

Viking Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the company’s pipeline leverages small-molecule approaches to target hormone signaling pathways implicated in conditions such as non‐alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes and muscle wasting disorders.

The company’s lead programs include VK2809, a thyroid hormone receptor‐beta agonist designed to reduce liver fat and improve lipid profiles in patients with NASH and dyslipidemia, and VK5211, a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) aimed at enhancing muscle mass and function in individuals with muscle wasting conditions.