Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 5.6% – What’s Next?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price dropped 5.6% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $23.35 and last traded at $23.20. Approximately 1,122,666 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 3,997,229 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank initiated 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. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Maxim Group lowered their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.75.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 6.6 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $27.53 and a 200 day moving average of $42.81. The firm has a market cap of $2.58 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.95 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Insider Activity

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan bought 1,240 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $24.15 per share, for a total transaction of $29,946.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 1,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,946. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position 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 worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 536 shares during the period. FIL Ltd raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% in 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 last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 222,100.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 2,221 shares during the last quarter. 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.