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

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 48,911 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 259% compared to the typical daily volume of 13,631 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VKTX. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $107.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Lake Street Capital initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $89.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded Viking Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 21,217 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.47, for a total value of $710,132.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 212,204 shares in the company, valued at $7,102,467.88. This trade represents a 9.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 148,517 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.32, for a total transaction of $4,948,586.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,572,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $85,713,734.12. This trade represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 187,951 shares of company stock worth $6,268,442 over the last 90 days. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth about $241,458,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,994,509 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $70,183,000 after buying an additional 385,903 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 536.3% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 992,695 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $34,923,000 after buying an additional 836,686 shares during the period. Artia Global Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 392.1% in the fourth quarter. Artia Global Partners LP now owns 719,365 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,307,000 after buying an additional 573,186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ADAR1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $22,393,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Viking Therapeutics

Here are the key news stories impacting Viking Therapeutics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: VK2735 maintenance data continue to support Viking’s potential differentiation in the obesity market. Patients retained approximately 90% of prior weight loss with every-other-week dosing and 85% with monthly dosing, suggesting a possible convenience and adherence advantage over weekly injections. However, the maintenance groups were small and follow-up lasted only 12 weeks. Viking Therapeutics Advances VK2735 Obesity Trial
• Positive Sentiment: The financing should provide substantial capital for Viking’s Phase 3 VANQUISH trials, oral VK2735 development and maintenance studies. The company’s larger cash position may reduce near-term funding risk as it advances toward expected 2027 Phase 3 readouts. Viking Therapeutics Prices Upsized $500 Million Offering
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually heavy call-option activity and renewed takeover speculation involving large pharmaceutical companies indicate continued investor interest, but neither signals a transaction or guarantees further gains.
• Negative Sentiment: Viking priced an upsized offering of 7,857,143 common shares at $35 each and $225 million of 2.00% convertible senior notes due 2032, raising approximately $500 million. The equity issuance dilutes existing shareholders, while the discounted share price pressured the stock; one investor reportedly purchased roughly one-third of the equity portion. Viking Therapeutics Prices Upsized $500 Million Offering of Common Stock and Convertible Senior Notes
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also reassessing the recent VK2735 rally after shares approached prior resistance near $43. The positive maintenance results remain early-stage, and Viking still must prove long-term efficacy, safety, manufacturing capability and commercial funding against Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and other competitors.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 11.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $36.75 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $24.88 and a twelve month high of $43.15. The company’s 50 day moving average is $33.86 and its 200 day moving average is $33.57. The company has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a PE ratio of -7.89 and a beta of 0.69.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.21) by $0.11. The business’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.58) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics will post -4.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Viking Therapeutics

Viking Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders. The company’s research programs target conditions including obesity, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), dyslipidemia and other disorders involving hormone regulation and metabolism.

Viking’s lead program is VK2735, an investigational dual agonist of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptors being developed in injectable and oral formulations for obesity and related metabolic conditions.