Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 53,247 call options on the company. This is an increase of 168% compared to the typical volume of 19,834 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $715,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $660,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at $20,689,572.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 21.2 %

VKTX stock opened at $73.22 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $8.28 and a 12-month high of $99.41. The company has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -78.73 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $63.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.74.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -1 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on VKTX. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.60.

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.