Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Up 1.9%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) shares shot up 1.9% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $68.48 and last traded at $68.21. 333,223 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 94% from the average session volume of 5,903,988 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.95.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Maxim Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 1.5 %

The company has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -72.24 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $62.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.04.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.25). During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.26) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $701,250.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total transaction of $838,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,264,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $54,243,923.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 359,079 shares of company stock valued at $9,461,153 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 237.9% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,894,923 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $111,767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,854,645 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $100,157,000 after buying an additional 97,552 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 2,039.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,280,944 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $87,928,000 after acquiring an additional 5,034,102 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 5,145,112 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $95,751,000 after acquiring an additional 571,796 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 21,586.9% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,961,561 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $48,007,000 after acquiring an additional 2,947,905 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.