Financial Counselors Inc. Reduces Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Financial Counselors Inc. reduced its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 15.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 38,653 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 7,328 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,555,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 79.4% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on VKTX shares. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Maxim Group cut their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.18.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $26.13 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.41 and a fifty-two week high of $84.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.85. The stock has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of -26.13 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted 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 prior year, the firm posted ($0.25) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares in the company, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

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.