Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 0.5% - Here's What Happened

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report)'s share price dropped 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $50.40 and last traded at $51.25. 1,387,435 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 4,538,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.51.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One 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, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $109.80.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 0.5 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $64.42 and a 200 day moving average of $60.82. The company has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -56.12 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $660,250. The trade was a 52.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction 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 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 77.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 45,809 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $3,756,000 after purchasing an additional 20,023 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 195.9% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,942 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $569,000 after acquiring an additional 4,596 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $638,429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,403,820 shares during the period. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 7.6% during the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 10,278 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $843,000 after acquiring an additional 725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $327,000. 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.

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