Norges Bank Takes Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Norges Bank acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,278,928 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,464,000. Norges Bank owned 1.15% of Viking Therapeutics at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $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. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $75,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 79.4% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Maxim Group cut their target price 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. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Citigroup began 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. Finally, Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 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 transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 6.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $22.62 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.53 and a 52 week high of $81.86. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $29.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.32. The firm has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.62 and a beta of 0.84.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.25) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current 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.