Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Up 0.5%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) shares were up 0.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $58.93 and last traded at $57.26. Approximately 709,701 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 4,817,196 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on VKTX shares. Maxim Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James increased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.78.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $55.45 and a 200 day moving average of $57.23. The company has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a P/E ratio of -61.57 and a beta of 1.03.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.19) earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, insider Zante Greg 16,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 200,641 shares of company stock worth $12,686,992. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth approximately $294,380,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 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 last quarter. Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth approximately $78,586,000. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth approximately $55,098,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,341,000. 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.