Insider Selling: Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CEO Sells $7,426,846.00 in Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CEO Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total value of $7,426,846.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $154,954,196.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Brian Lian also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, July 30th, Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 2.1 %

VKTX stock opened at $64.76 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $54.49 and its 200 day moving average is $60.87. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.28 and a 12-month high of $99.41. The stock has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -69.63 and a beta of 1.03.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.19) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $638,429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,403,820 shares in the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $294,380,000. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,727,000 after buying an additional 311,681 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after buying an additional 525,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $78,586,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on VKTX shares. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.78.

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.