Oak Ridge Investments LLC Sells 2,200 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Oak Ridge Investments LLC cut its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 16.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,022 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 2,200 shares during the quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $444,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 443,701 shares of company stock worth $23,898,520. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $32.65 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.11 and a beta of 0.95. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $20.47 and a 1 year high of $99.41. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.06.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current year.

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.