Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Up 7.2% – What’s Next?

by · The Markets Daily

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX – Get Free Report)’s share price rose 7.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $41.12 and last traded at $41.04. Approximately 2,385,281 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 46% from the average daily volume of 4,445,326 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.28.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VKTX. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. B. Riley started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.75.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Viking Therapeutics

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 1.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a PE ratio of -45.43 and a beta of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $57.58 and a 200 day moving average of $57.81.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total value of $10,088,541.07. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 149,366 shares in the company, valued at $11,442,929.26. This represents a 46.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at $3,293,756.55. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 144,687 shares of company stock worth $11,115,671. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,052,176,000 after buying an additional 79,149 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after purchasing an additional 452,344 shares during the period. Braidwell LP boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $73,248,000 after purchasing an additional 50,072 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,565,000 after purchasing an additional 994,801 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,902,000 after buying an additional 143,675 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

About Viking Therapeutics

(Get Free Report)

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.

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