Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Price Down 0.7%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) fell 0.7% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $65.50 and last traded at $66.46. 895,707 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 5,913,449 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.95.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on VKTX. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. BTIG Research raised their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Maxim Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 1.5 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -73.86 and a beta of 1.05.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.25). During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.26) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total value of $838,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,264,882 shares in the company, valued at $54,243,923.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total value of $838,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,264,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 worth $9,461,153 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 7.2% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 166,500 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $500,000 after purchasing an additional 11,200 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.5% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 32,893 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 5,606 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 26.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 325,748 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $977,000 after buying an additional 67,835 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,147,461 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $15,442,000 after buying an additional 27,971 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 29.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,375,485 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $4,126,000 after buying an additional 312,377 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.