Viking Therapeutics Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 33,310 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 73% compared to the typical daily volume of 19,200 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 17th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 4.8 %

NASDAQ VKTX traded up $3.25 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $71.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,967,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,520,532. Viking Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $8.28 and a 1 year high of $99.41. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $58.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.53. The company has a market capitalization of $7.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -77.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.19) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 5,700 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.72, for a total value of $397,404.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $662,340. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.72, for a total value of $397,404.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $662,340. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $69,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,609,397.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 290,241 shares of company stock valued at $17,786,475 over the last ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $294,380,000. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,727,000 after purchasing an additional 311,681 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after buying an additional 525,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $78,586,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.