New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 118,898 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 3,500 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $4,784,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $75,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, 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 SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 3.1 %

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $28.67 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.67 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.36. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $27.20 and a 52 week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the firm earned ($0.25) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Maxim Group lowered their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.29.

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.