Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 2,548 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas reduced its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 8.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 26,989 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 2,548 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $652,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,997 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $885,000 after buying an additional 2,689 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 79.4% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 26,835 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 4,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 37.4% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 6,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 1,890 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 4,266 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total value of $118,466.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 377,535 shares in the company, valued at $10,484,146.95. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total value of $118,424.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,682,001.60. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,421 shares of company stock valued at $984,405 in the last ninety days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $30.70 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $27.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.14. The stock has a market cap of $3.45 billion, a PE ratio of -26.70 and a beta of 0.62. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.92 and a 1 year high of $81.73.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on VKTX. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.15.

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.