Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 4,827 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 0.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,172,441 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,827 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.13% of Viking Therapeutics worth $409,339,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $75,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 79.4% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan acquired 1,240 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $24.15 per share, with a total value of $29,946.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,946. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 in the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Scotiabank began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Maxim Group reduced their price objective 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. Citigroup started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 7.4 %

VKTX stock opened at $25.68 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of -25.68 and a beta of 0.84. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $23.27 and a 12 month high of $81.86. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $29.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.78.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.25) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current 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.