Insider Selling: Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) COO Sells $22,136,890.50 in Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total transaction of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,413,639.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $76.97 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $8.28 and a one year high of $99.41. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -82.76 and a beta of 1.12.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 370.7% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 353 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth approximately $61,000. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VKTX shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.25.

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.