Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Reduces Stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 7.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 129,283 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 9,969 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $5,202,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% during the third quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 4,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VKTX has been the topic of several analyst reports. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. B. Riley started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

VKTX stock opened at $39.31 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.28 and a 1-year high of $99.41. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $50.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.64. The company has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -42.27 and a beta of 0.95.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $768,455. The trade was a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 443,701 shares of company stock valued at $23,898,520 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

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.