1492 Capital Management LLC Invests $992,000 in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

1492 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 41,058 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $992,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 121.5% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 29,721 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $718,000 after purchasing an additional 16,302 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 9,209.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 24,392 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 24,130 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at $429,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 18.2% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 96,702 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $3,891,000 after purchasing an additional 14,873 shares during the period. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at $220,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 target price (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 28th. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $86.92.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 2.7%

NASDAQ:VKTX traded up $0.92 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $34.42. 5,165,132 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,119,134. The company's 50 day moving average is $28.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.75. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.92 and a twelve month high of $81.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.50 and a beta of 0.62.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.14). The business's revenue was up NaN% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.20) EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total value of $118,424.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 168,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,682,001.60. The trade was a 2.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total transaction of $747,514.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,388,014 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $66,386,789.20. This trade represents a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,421 shares of company stock worth $984,405 in the last three months. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Company 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.