Barclays PLC Has $3.72 Million Stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 92,556 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,825 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $3,723,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,715,438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $672,629,000 after buying an additional 96,008 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,713 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $75,704,000 after buying an additional 17,046 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 446.7% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,357,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $54,615,000 after buying an additional 1,108,972 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,464,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,115,068 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $44,870,000 after buying an additional 81,183 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan purchased 1,240 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.15 per share, for a total transaction of $29,946.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,946. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 4.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VKTX. Maxim Group lowered their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 price target (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.15.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $25.94 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.91 billion, a PE ratio of -25.94 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50-day moving average is $26.35 and its 200-day moving average is $40.06. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.92 and a fifty-two week high of $81.86.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.10). The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.26) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

About Viking Therapeutics

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.