Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Bought by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 3.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,470 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $349,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 222,100.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 2,221 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth approximately $56,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was 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. The trade was a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 4,266 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $10,484,146.95. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 35,421 shares of company stock valued at $984,405. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 0.2%

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $32.01 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.92 and a 52 week high of $81.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.83 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $27.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.05.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.