Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Purchases New Shares in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 13,284 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $528,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 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 value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 3.3 %

Viking Therapeutics stock traded up $0.98 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $30.48. The stock had a trading volume of 3,279,795 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,270,754. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.82. The company has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a PE ratio of -30.48 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $28.64 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last posted 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 previous year, the business earned ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VKTX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Raymond James upped their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Maxim Group decreased their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $97.29.

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.