KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys Shares of 20,700 Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 20,700 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $833,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the fourth 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 last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC grew its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $75,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 79.4% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 858 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on VKTX shares. Maxim Group lowered their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. 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 note on Thursday, February 6th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $95.18.

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Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX stock traded up $1.77 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $25.68. The company had a trading volume of 4,396,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,901,110. The firm has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a PE ratio of -25.68 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $29.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.92. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $23.27 and a one year high of $81.86.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.25) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the business'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 directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 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 $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.