Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stake Lifted by Independent Advisor Alliance

Independent Advisor Alliance increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 37.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,890 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $279,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,052,176,000 after buying an additional 79,149 shares during the last quarter. Braidwell LP grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,248,000 after buying an additional 50,072 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,902,000 after buying an additional 143,675 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 728,652 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,321,000 after buying an additional 13,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 628,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,301,000 after purchasing an additional 35,236 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James increased their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Maxim Group decreased their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.67.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $29.46 on Wednesday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.41 and a 12 month high of $89.10. The company has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.46 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.17.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 valued at $12,782,849 over the last three months. 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.