IFP Advisors Inc Grows Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 107.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 42,124 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,825 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,697,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised 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 worth $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $75,000. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VKTX. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Maxim Group decreased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank began 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. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $27.82 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.82 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $35.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $51.52. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.20 and a 1 year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.25) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Viking Therapeutics 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.