Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 35,236 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 628,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,236 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.56% of Viking Therapeutics worth $25,301,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the 3rd 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 during the period. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, S.A. Mason LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the fourth 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. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $34.07 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.07. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.64 and a 1-year high of $99.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a PE ratio of -34.07 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted 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 last year, the firm posted ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company 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 report on Thursday, February 6th. 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 report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.29.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 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 $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last quarter. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

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.