American Century Companies Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 301,582 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after buying an additional 25,824 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.27% of Viking Therapeutics worth $12,136,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 79.4% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Raymond James lifted 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. Maxim Group lowered their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $96.00 target price (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.18.

Remove Ads

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 7.4 %

VKTX traded up $1.77 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $25.68. The company had a trading volume of 4,401,250 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,900,756. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.78. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.27 and a 1 year high of $81.86. The company has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.68 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.25) EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 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 $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan purchased 1,240 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $24.15 per share, for a total transaction of $29,946.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,240 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,946. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

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.