Virtu Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 42,613 Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 42,613 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,715,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 6.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 109.1% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 34,023 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 17,754 shares in the last quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 122.4% during the fourth quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 80,602 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $3,243,000 after purchasing an additional 44,365 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 103.1% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 42,612 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,715,000 after purchasing an additional 21,627 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VKTX. Citigroup started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $38.00 target price on the stock. 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 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of 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 dropped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $97.67.

Insider Activity

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 stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of Viking Therapeutics 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 3.0 %

VKTX traded down $0.88 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $28.40. 803,140 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,965,969. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.41 and a 12-month high of $89.10. The company's 50-day moving average is $30.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.33. The company has a market cap of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.40 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced 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 posted ($0.25) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current 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.