Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CEO Brian Lian Sells 216,130 Shares

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) 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 value of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Brian Lian also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, August 21st, Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $69,900.00.
• On Monday, August 19th, Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total transaction of $7,426,846.00.
• On Tuesday, July 30th, Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total transaction of $6,671,161.22.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $70.47 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.28 and a twelve month high of $99.41. The stock has a market cap of $7.81 billion, a PE ratio of -75.77 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.21.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.19) EPS. Research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at approximately $190,000. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 242.7% in the 2nd quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,943 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $527,000 after buying an additional 7,042 shares in the last quarter. Aristides Capital LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 120.0% in the second quarter. Aristides Capital LLC now owns 11,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $583,000 after acquiring an additional 6,000 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 114.0% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 49,311 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,614,000 after acquiring an additional 26,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 357.1% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 26,049 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,381,000 after acquiring an additional 20,350 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on VKTX. Maxim Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.60.

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.