Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Down 0.1% – Time to Sell?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price fell 0.1% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $41.61 and last traded at $42.28. 442,170 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 4,461,070 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.32.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 0.1 %

The company has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.54 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $57.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.72.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.23) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total transaction of $10,088,541.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,366 shares in the company, valued at $11,442,929.26. This trade represents a 46.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at $3,293,756.55. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 144,687 shares of company stock worth $11,115,671 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 29.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 593,528 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $37,576,000 after buying an additional 136,729 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 296.8% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,190 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $962,000 after purchasing an additional 11,362 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $240,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 51.3% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 5,416 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 1,836 shares during the period. Finally, Second Line Capital LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 34.1% in the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 38,118 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,413,000 after purchasing an additional 9,699 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by 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.