Legato Capital Management LLC Has $290,000 Stock Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Legato Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 36.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,200 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,905 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $290,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VKTX. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,565,000 after purchasing an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth approximately $18,443,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% during the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,677,000 after acquiring an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth approximately $11,251,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,902,000 after acquiring an additional 143,675 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on VKTX shares. Raymond James raised their price objective 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. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Maxim Group dropped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $30.48 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.48 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.25) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their position. 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 insiders.

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.