Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Up 0.6% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) rose 0.6% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $47.84 and last traded at $47.49. Approximately 746,674 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 4,413,933 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.23.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. 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. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 8.4 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $58.47 and its 200-day moving average is $58.06. The stock has a market cap of $4.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.61 and a beta of 0.88.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $768,455. The trade was a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at $3,293,756.55. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,052,176,000 after purchasing an additional 79,149 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% during the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after buying an additional 452,344 shares during the last quarter. Braidwell LP boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the third quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,248,000 after buying an additional 50,072 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,902,000 after acquiring an additional 143,675 shares during the period. 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.