Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Bought by Blair William & Co. IL

Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 19.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 271,869 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after buying an additional 44,915 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned approximately 0.24% of Viking Therapeutics worth $10,940,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC raised its position 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 valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $75,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 79.4% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 858 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Maxim Group decreased their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and issued a $96.00 price target (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.18.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX traded down $1.50 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $24.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,159,625 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,897,667. The business's fifty day moving average is $30.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.50. The stock has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.15 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $23.31 and a 1 year high of $82.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.25) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.