Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Hits New 12-Month Low – What’s Next?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $28.61 and last traded at $28.30, with a volume of 734623 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $29.20.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VKTX. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 5.2 %

The company has a market cap of $3.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.66 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $35.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.89.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. 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 acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. FIL Ltd increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.