Teacher Retirement System of Texas Buys 4,647 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 18.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,537 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,647 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,189,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 728,652 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,321,000 after buying an additional 13,055 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 628,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,301,000 after acquiring an additional 35,236 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $24,888,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 9.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 462,964 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $18,630,000 after purchasing an additional 41,400 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 137.0% during the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 375,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after purchasing an additional 216,873 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on VKTX shares. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Finally, B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 target price (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $25.65 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.65 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.41 and a twelve month high of $82.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $30.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.60.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly 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 period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.25) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the firm’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 $8,314,447.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.