Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Up 3%

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) traded up 3% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $56.37 and last traded at $55.75. 723,095 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 4,573,048 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.13.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Raymond James increased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 11.3 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $6.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -62.73 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $57.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.91.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.19) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $69,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at $164,609,397.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $69,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at $164,609,397.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.72, for a total value of $397,404.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $662,340. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 290,241 shares of company stock worth $17,786,475 in the last ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $294,380,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $638,429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,403,820 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $78,586,000. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $55,098,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,341,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by 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.