Insider Selling: Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CEO Sells $8,314,447.50 in Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the 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 $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX opened at $40.60 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $50.68 and a 200-day moving average of $56.75. The company has a market capitalization of $4.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -43.66 and a beta of 0.95. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $19.15 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,565,000 after acquiring an additional 994,801 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,350,000 after purchasing an additional 452,344 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $18,443,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% during the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,677,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares during the period. Finally, Nepsis Inc. acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $11,251,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. B. Riley began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.75.

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.