Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CFO Sells $2,150,709.75 in Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Greg Zante also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, October 28th, Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total transaction of $10,088,541.07.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 2.5 %

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $40.60 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $50.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.75. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.15 and a 52 week high of $99.41. The company has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a PE ratio of -43.66 and a beta of 0.95.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,565,000 after buying an additional 994,801 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,350,000 after acquiring an additional 452,344 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $18,443,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% in the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,677,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nepsis Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $11,251,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on VKTX shares. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price target on the stock. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.75.

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.