Viking Therapeutics Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 88,534 call options on the stock. Thisrepresentsanincreaseofapproximately359% compared to the average volume of 19,275 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total value of $747,514.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,388,014 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,386,789.20. This trade represents a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 4,266 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total transaction of $118,466.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 377,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,484,146.95. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,421 shares of company stock worth $984,405. 4.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 92,556 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,723,000 after acquiring an additional 9,825 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 40.5% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 14,426 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $580,000 after purchasing an additional 4,161 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 108.5% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,068 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 20,114 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $809,000 after purchasing an additional 2,256 shares during the period. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 29,673 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,194,000 after buying an additional 9,321 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VKTX shares. Raymond James Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.92.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 42.1%

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $24.36 on Wednesday. Viking Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $18.92 and a 1-year high of $81.73. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.77. The company has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.92 and a beta of 0.67.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.14). Viking Therapeutics’s revenue was up NaN% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.20) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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.