Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Cuts Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 19.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 236,601 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 56,984 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned 0.21% of Viking Therapeutics worth $12,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $638,429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,403,820 shares in the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at about $294,380,000. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $23,727,000 after acquiring an additional 311,681 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $20,841,000 after acquiring an additional 525,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at about $78,586,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,689,572.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,689,572.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total transaction of $1,195,818.58. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $546,535. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX opened at $70.47 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.21. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.28 and a 1 year high of $99.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.81 billion, a PE ratio of -75.77 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.19) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.