Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 4% – Here’s Why

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s stock price traded down 4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $24.17 and last traded at $24.64. 1,061,747 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 3,890,023 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.68.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. Maxim Group dropped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.18.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 6.6 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.62 and a beta of 0.84.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.25) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. FIL Ltd lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 851 shares during the period. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.