Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Rating Lowered to “Strong Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

VKTX has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $107.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Oppenheimer set a $120.00 price objective on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $99.67.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 2.2%

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $29.28 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.69 billion, a PE ratio of -6.28 and a beta of 0.66. Viking Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $25.77 and a 12-month high of $43.15. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $33.24 and its 200 day moving average is $33.40.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.10) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.21) by $0.11. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.58) earnings per share. Viking Therapeutics’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -4.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,217 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.47, for a total value of $609,722.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 422,760 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,149,777.20. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.32, for a total value of $4,948,586.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,572,441 shares in the company, valued at $85,713,734.12. This represents a 5.46% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 187,951 shares of company stock valued at $6,268,442 over the last ninety days. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. Cornerstone Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,334,000. Timothy G. Youngquist 2020 Irrevocable Trust grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 141.6% during the second quarter. Timothy G. Youngquist 2020 Irrevocable Trust now owns 271,849 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $10,605,000 after buying an additional 159,349 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at about $241,458,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 18.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 542,516 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $17,653,000 after buying an additional 82,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter worth about $1,783,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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 are aimed at conditions including obesity, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), and other diseases involving the liver and metabolism.

Viking’s leading program is VK2735, an investigational dual agonist of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptors.