Blair William & Co. IL Has $10.94 Million Stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 19.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 271,869 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,915 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $10,940,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 728,652 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,321,000 after acquiring an additional 13,055 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 628,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,301,000 after purchasing an additional 35,236 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $24,888,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 462,964 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $18,630,000 after purchasing an additional 41,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 137.0% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 375,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after purchasing an additional 216,873 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VKTX. Piper Sandler decreased 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. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $25.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.65 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.60. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.41 and a 1-year high of $82.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.25) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS 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.