683 Capital Management LLC Raises Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Key Points

• 683 Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. by 8.9% in Q1, now owning approximately 0.27% of the company with a market value of $7.37 million.
• Analysts have mixed views on the stock, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and a target price averaging $86.92, while recent reports resulted in adjustments to previous target prices.
• Corporate insiders have sold a total of 35,421 shares recently, reflecting a trend of insider selling, yet they still own 4.10% of the company shares.

683 Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 8.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 305,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares during the quarter. 683 Capital Management LLC owned about 0.27% of Viking Therapeutics worth $7,366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 1,621.4% during the 1st quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,205 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 222,100.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,222 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 2,221 shares in the last quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $56,000. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 1,242.9% in the 1st quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 2,175 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 168,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,682,001.60. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,388,014 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $66,386,789.20. The trade was a 1.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,421 shares of company stock worth $984,405 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on VKTX shares. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Citigroup upped their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.92.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of VKTX traded up $0.45 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $26.98. The stock had a trading volume of 5,240,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,570,530. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $31.22 and a 200 day moving average of $28.38. The company has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.63 and a beta of 0.73. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.92 and a 52 week high of $81.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.14). During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.20) EPS. The company's revenue was up NaN% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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.