Blue Trust Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 363.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,478 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $76,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VKTX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Maxim Group lowered their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 target price (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 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 approximately $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $8,314,447.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, 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 ninety days, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $34.07 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.07. The firm has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.07 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.64 and a 1 year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 period last year, the company earned ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.