Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Purchased by NEOS Investment Management LLC

NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,215 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,707 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $813,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% in 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. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $75,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 79.4% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $78,000 after buying an additional 858 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was 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 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of Viking Therapeutics 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 $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $25.65 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.65 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average is $30.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.50. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.41 and a twelve month high of $82.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Maxim Group dropped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.18.

Viking Therapeutics Company 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.