Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Director Lawson Macartney Sells 2,000 Shares

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 0.5 %

VKTX stock traded down $0.37 on Friday, reaching $68.48. 3,878,237 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,505,156. The firm has a market cap of $7.63 billion, a PE ratio of -73.42 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.34 and a twelve month high of $99.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.68 and a 200-day moving average of $61.85.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.80.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $638,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403,820 shares during the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth about $294,380,000. Perpetual Ltd lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after purchasing an additional 452,344 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,565,000 after buying an additional 994,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 6.3% during the second quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 714,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $37,880,000 after buying an additional 42,650 shares during the period. 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.