Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases Shares of 21,551 Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 21,551 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $867,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 79.4% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 858 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 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 $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company's stock, 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, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan acquired 1,240 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.15 per share, for a total transaction of $29,946.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,946. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

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Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 6.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX traded down $1.60 during trading on Friday, reaching $22.62. The company had a trading volume of 6,563,849 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,926,986. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $21.53 and a 12-month high of $81.86. The business's 50-day moving average is $29.32 and its 200 day moving average is $45.06. The stock has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of -22.62 and a beta of 0.84.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 in the previous year, the company posted ($0.25) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on VKTX. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $38.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.18.

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.