Eagle Bay Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Eagle Bay Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,281 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the 3rd 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. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 4,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $38.88 on Tuesday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $20.28 and a 12-month high of $99.41. The firm has a market cap of $4.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.81 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50-day moving average is $48.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.60.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics 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 transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $768,455. This trade represents a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 sale, 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 have sold a total of 443,701 shares of company stock valued at $23,898,520 in the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on VKTX shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. B. Riley assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $106.75.

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.