Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 660 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lowered its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,591 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 660 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,110,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 715,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $45,304,000 after acquiring an additional 44,122 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $884,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 548.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 35,252 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,173,000 after purchasing an additional 29,819 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 24,630 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,559,000 after buying an additional 4,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D.A. Davidson & CO. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth $243,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on VKTX shares. Maxim Group decreased their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price objective (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.18.

Insider Activity

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $8,314,447.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $24.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.15 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.27 and a 1-year high of $82.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $30.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.22.

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