Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Trading Down 1.2% – Should You Sell?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) shares were down 1.2% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $51.04 and last traded at $51.98. Approximately 1,323,396 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 4,520,391 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.59.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VKTX. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, B. Riley initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.1 %

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $63.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.25. The firm has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -55.89 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $715,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $660,250. The trade was a 52.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 8.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.