Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan Buys 1,240 Shares

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan acquired 1,240 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.15 per share, for a total transaction of $29,946.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,946. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 6.6 %

Shares of VKTX traded down $1.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $22.62. 6,563,849 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,926,986. The company has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.62 and a beta of 0.84. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.53 and a 1 year high of $81.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $29.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.20.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

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Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. FIL Ltd grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $63,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on VKTX. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $96.00 price target (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Scotiabank started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.18.

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.