Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 14,110 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 172% compared to the typical daily volume of 5,181 call options.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $14.77 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $14.58 and its 200-day moving average is $16.97. Viking Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $2.53 and a 1 year high of $25.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of -16.23 and a beta of 0.52.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 26th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics will post -0.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 617,353.3% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,922,748 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $181,864,000 after buying an additional 10,920,979 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 2,039.4% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,280,944 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $87,928,000 after buying an additional 5,034,102 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 237.9% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,894,923 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $111,767,000 after buying an additional 4,854,645 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 21,586.9% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,961,561 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,007,000 after buying an additional 2,947,905 shares during the period. Finally, Wasatch Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,396,000. Institutional investors own 78.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VKTX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, August 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, September 8th. Finally, Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.25.

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.