Vinva Investment Management Ltd Takes $194,000 Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Vinva Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 4,827 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at $24,888,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 137.0% during the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 375,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after acquiring an additional 216,873 shares during the last quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% during the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,677,000 after acquiring an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,902,000 after acquiring an additional 143,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 29.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 593,528 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $37,576,000 after acquiring an additional 136,729 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $8,314,447.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % 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 worth $12,782,849 in the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on VKTX shares. Maxim Group decreased 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. Citigroup started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.67.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 2.1 %

VKTX stock opened at $28.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.95 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.41 and a 12-month high of $89.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.66.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.