Emerald Advisers LLC Has $76,000 Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Emerald Advisers LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 99.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,889 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 337,158 shares during the period. Emerald Advisers LLC's holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $76,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at $1,715,000. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 131,348 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $8,316,000 after buying an additional 62,956 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 715,597 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $45,304,000 after acquiring an additional 44,122 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 109.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 34,023 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,154,000 after acquiring an additional 17,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Institute for Wealth Management LLC. boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 122.4% during the 4th quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 80,602 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $3,243,000 after acquiring an additional 44,365 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 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 transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly 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. In the last three months, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and set a $96.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $97.67.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX traded down $1.32 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $27.96. 1,872,736 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,965,969. The company has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a PE ratio of -27.96 and a beta of 0.90. The firm's 50 day moving average is $30.84 and its 200-day moving average is $47.33. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.41 and a 52 week high of $89.10.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share 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.