Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 3.7% – Should You Sell?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price was down 3.7% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $63.79 and last traded at $64.24. Approximately 1,225,962 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 4,394,249 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.68.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on VKTX shares. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. 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 objective for the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 5.3 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $60.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -67.86 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.19) EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. The trade was 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. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total value of $1,195,818.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $546,535. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $638,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403,820 shares during the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $294,380,000. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $23,727,000 after buying an additional 311,681 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% during the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after buying an additional 452,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after purchasing an additional 525,296 shares in the last quarter. 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.