Virtu Financial LLC Makes New $1.72 Million Investment in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 42,613 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,715,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC increased 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 buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at $75,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price target (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Maxim Group decreased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 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 $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 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 $8,314,447.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This represents 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 over the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $28.95 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.25 billion, a PE ratio of -28.95 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.41 and a twelve month high of $89.10.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued 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 period last year, the firm posted ($0.25) EPS. Analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share 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.