Insider Selling: Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) COO Sells 281,425 Shares of 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 stock was sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total transaction of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at $27,413,639.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 1.6 %

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $76.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.49 billion, a PE ratio of -82.76 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $72.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.05. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.28 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.25) EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,157,000 after purchasing an additional 97,552 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 59.6% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,202,228 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,379,000 after buying an additional 822,156 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 13.7% during the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 1,279,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,159,000 after buying an additional 154,000 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,727,000 after buying an additional 311,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $20,841,000 after acquiring an additional 525,296 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.25.

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.