Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Down 5% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) fell 5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $26.42 and last traded at $26.59. 1,140,368 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 3,952,332 shares. The stock had previously closed at $27.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VKTX shares. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday. Maxim Group cut their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.67.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of -26.03 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.14.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 period last year, the business earned ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the business’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 $2,150,709.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 value of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of 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. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 851 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.