Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Down 4.9% Following Analyst Downgrade

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) fell 4.9% during mid-day trading on Monday after Maxim Group lowered their price target on the stock from $120.00 to $70.00. Maxim Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Viking Therapeutics traded as low as $31.00 and last traded at $30.97. 886,719 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 3,895,525 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.56.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Citigroup began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.92.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% during the third quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 4,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Finally, S.A. Mason LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 5.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $3.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.82 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.05 and its 200 day moving average is $53.92.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. Analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.