Amundi Sells 30,538 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Amundi trimmed its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 91.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,016 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 30,538 shares during the quarter. Amundi's holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $75,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $96.00 target price (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective 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. Raymond James upped their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Maxim Group lowered their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $97.67.

Remove Ads

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock traded down $0.88 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $28.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 334,799 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,965,969. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $30.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.33. The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.42 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $24.41 and a one year high of $89.10.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 quarter last year, the business posted ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction 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 $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 position. 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 90 days. 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.