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

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Investors bought 31,516 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 87% compared to the average daily volume of 16,878 call options.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. FIL Ltd raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 5.8 %

VKTX stock opened at $24.15 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.15 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.22. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $23.27 and a 52 week high of $82.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Maxim Group cut their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

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.