Persistent Asset Partners Ltd Boosts Stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Persistent Asset Partners Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 88.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 45,482 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 21,397 shares during the period. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,205,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 12.0% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 518,298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,517,000 after acquiring an additional 55,334 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,139 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,163,000 after purchasing an additional 6,294 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 3.2% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,470 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 36.1% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,542 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 939 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 126.8% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,830 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 1,582 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 6,185 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $216,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 382,467 shares in the company, valued at $13,386,345. The trade was a 1.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 38,989 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.01, for a total transaction of $1,365,004.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,419,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,693,006.09. This represents a 1.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 111,359 shares of company stock valued at $3,932,155 over the last quarter. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $39.11 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $31.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.20. The stock has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of -18.45 and a beta of 0.64. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $18.92 and a one year high of $56.25.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.67) by ($0.14). Viking Therapeutics’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.22) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VKTX. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. B. Riley upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Viking Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.14.

Viking Therapeutics 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.