Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Director Sells $2,134,200.00 in Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Director Charles Rowland, Jr. sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.57, for a total value of $2,134,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 30,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,067,100. The trade was a 66.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 8.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $38.17 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.92 and a 52-week high of $79.10. The stock has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.00 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $29.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.17.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.67) by ($0.14). During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.22) earnings per share. Viking Therapeutics’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on VKTX. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, September 29th. B. Riley upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Viking Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.07.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 121.5% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 29,721 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 16,302 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Management Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $241,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter worth approximately $1,367,000. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 77.7% in the second quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 63,546 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,684,000 after acquiring an additional 27,795 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 118.5% in the second quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 52,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,378,000 after acquiring an additional 28,200 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

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.