Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Acquires 108,581 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 218.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 158,349 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 108,581 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned about 0.14% of Viking Therapeutics worth $10,025,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VKTX. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at about $294,380,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $638,429,000 after acquiring an additional 2,403,820 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,565,000 after purchasing an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth approximately $55,098,000. Finally, Perpetual Ltd grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% during the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after purchasing an additional 452,344 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Raymond James increased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 8.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $768,455. This trade represents a 53.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $51.75 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $11.21 and a one year high of $99.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -55.64 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.23) EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.