Insider Selling: Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) CFO Sells $216,475.00 in Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CFO Greg Zante sold 6,185 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $216,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 173,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,075,720. This represents a 3.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 8.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $38.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a PE ratio of -18.00 and a beta of 0.64. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.92 and a 1 year high of $79.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $29.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.17.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.67) by ($0.14). Viking Therapeutics’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.22) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 58.4% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 955 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the period. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1,621.4% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,205 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 1,135 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Avion Wealth lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1,157.0% in the third quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 1,521 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on VKTX shares. Canaccord Genuity Group started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $106.00 price target for the company. B. Riley upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Viking Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.07.

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.