Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Reaches New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) hit a new 52-week low on Monday . The stock traded as low as $23.27 and last traded at $23.84, with a volume of 751035 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $25.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VKTX shares. Raymond James raised their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price objective (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Maxim Group cut their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.18.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.0 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $29.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $45.92. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.91 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 in the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. FIL Ltd increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 648 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

About Viking Therapeutics

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.