Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 3.5% Following Insider Selling

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price dropped 3.5% during trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $73.69 and last traded at $74.27. Approximately 1,478,583 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 5,420,153 shares. The stock had previously closed at $76.97.

Specifically, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total value of $7,230,152.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,184,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,707,779.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total value of $7,230,152.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,184,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,707,779.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total value of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 348,508 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,413,639.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 642,260 shares of company stock worth $35,054,299. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Maxim Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 2.6 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $73.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.89. The firm has a market cap of $8.27 billion, a PE ratio of -79.86 and a beta of 1.12.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,157,000 after buying an additional 97,552 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 59.6% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,202,228 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,379,000 after acquiring an additional 822,156 shares during the period. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 13.7% in the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 1,279,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,159,000 after purchasing an additional 154,000 shares during the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $23,727,000 after purchasing an additional 311,681 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after buying an additional 525,296 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by 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.