Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 1% - Should You Sell?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report)'s stock price dropped 1% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $49.50 and last traded at $49.77. Approximately 710,933 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 4,488,083 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.26.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $74.00 price objective for the company. B. Riley initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 1.8 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -54.57 and a beta of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $61.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.23.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. This represents a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 296.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 15,190 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 11,362 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $240,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 5,416 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 1,836 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 34.1% during the 3rd quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 38,118 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,413,000 after acquiring an additional 9,699 shares during the period. Finally, Vestcor Inc acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $741,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

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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