BIT Capital GmbH Cuts Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

BIT Capital GmbH trimmed its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 124,443 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 9,670 shares during the period. BIT Capital GmbH’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $5,008,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in 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 position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $75,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VKTX. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price objective (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target 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. 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. Raymond James raised their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned 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 $95.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 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 $2,150,709.75. Following 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the firm’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 $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 in the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $26.34 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $30.55 and its 200 day moving average is $47.00. The firm has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.34 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.41 and a 52-week high of $85.20.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) 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 predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS 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.