Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Trims Stock Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. trimmed its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 27.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,561 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 2,800 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying 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. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $27.98 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.98 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.41 and a 12 month high of $89.10.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.25) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on VKTX shares. Scotiabank started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. 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. Maxim Group reduced 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. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.67.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, 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.