Insider Selling: Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) CEO Sells $1,365,004.89 in Stock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) CEO Brian Lian sold 38,989 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.01, for a total transaction of $1,365,004.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,419,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $84,693,006.09. This represents a 1.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 8.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $38.17 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a PE ratio of -18.00 and a beta of 0.64. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.92 and a 1 year high of $79.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $29.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.17.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.67) by ($0.14). Viking Therapeutics’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.22) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at about $46,846,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.1% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,476,314 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $39,122,000 after buying an additional 58,191 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 27.0% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 822,278 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $21,790,000 after buying an additional 174,887 shares during the period. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 52.8% in the second quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 638,204 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $16,912,000 after buying an additional 220,396 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 59.2% in the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 597,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $14,430,000 after buying an additional 222,293 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 24th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.07.

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.