Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Sees Large Volume Increase – Still a Buy?

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Tuesday . 852,597 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the previous session’s volume of 2,192,137 shares.The stock last traded at $35.92 and had previously closed at $38.88.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VKTX. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. B. Riley began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target for the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 11.2 %

The firm has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -37.11 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $48.88 and its 200-day moving average is $56.60.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.23) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $889,790.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,455. The trade was a 53.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total value of $10,088,541.07. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,442,929.26. This represents a 46.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 443,701 shares of company stock valued at $23,898,520. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,052,176,000 after purchasing an additional 79,149 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% during the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after buying an additional 452,344 shares in the last quarter. Braidwell LP boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,248,000 after buying an additional 50,072 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,565,000 after buying an additional 994,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,902,000 after acquiring an additional 143,675 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.