Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Sets New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) shares reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $29.30 and last traded at $29.52, with a volume of 651898 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $30.17.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on VKTX shares. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Maxim Group cut their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 2.1 %

The stock has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.32 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.26.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Oak Ridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $837,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 43.5% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 102,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,478,000 after purchasing an additional 31,011 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at $999,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.0% during the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 36,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,322,000 after buying an additional 17,159 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 131,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,316,000 after buying an additional 62,956 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.