Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Gap Up - What's Next?

Key Points

• Viking Therapeutics shares surged: The stock opened at $37.00 versus a prior close of $30.11 and last traded near $40.83 on heavy volume.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: Viking has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $96.62, although ratings range from Strong Buy to Sell.
• Institutional ownership is substantial: Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company, while recent insider stock sales were primarily made to cover tax withholding on vested equity awards.

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $30.11, but opened at $37.00. Viking Therapeutics shares last traded at $40.8330, with a volume of 15,775,665 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on VKTX shares. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $107.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research raised Viking Therapeutics from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Lake Street Capital initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, May 28th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $89.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. They set a "buy" rating and a $83.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $96.62.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.97 and a beta of 0.69. The firm's 50 day moving average is $33.71 and its 200 day moving average is $33.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.21) by $0.11. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.58) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -4.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,217 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.47, for a total transaction of $609,722.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 422,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,149,777.20. The trade was a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 148,517 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.32, for a total transaction of $4,948,586.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,572,441 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $85,713,734.12. This represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 187,951 shares of company stock worth $6,268,442 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Timothy G. Youngquist 2020 Irrevocable Trust increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 141.6% during the second quarter. Timothy G. Youngquist 2020 Irrevocable Trust now owns 271,849 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $10,605,000 after acquiring an additional 159,349 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,334,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $241,458,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 542,516 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $17,653,000 after purchasing an additional 82,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,783,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Viking Therapeutics

Viking Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. The company's research programs target conditions including obesity, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), dyslipidemia and other disorders involving hormone regulation and metabolism.

Viking's lead program is VK2735, an investigational dual agonist of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptors being developed in injectable and oral formulations for obesity and related metabolic conditions.

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