Alliancebernstein L.P. Has $25.10 Million Stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Key Points

• Alliancebernstein L.P. has decreased its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. by 6.8%, now holding approximately 1,039,417 shares valued at $25.1 million.
• Despite the decrease in Alliancebernstein's stake, other hedge funds have shown strong interest, with Quarry LP increasing its stake by 1,621.4% and NBC Securities Inc. by 222,100.0% in the same quarter.
• Viking Therapeutics reported a loss of $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' expectations, with projections indicating a continued loss for the current year.

Alliancebernstein L.P. lessened its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 6.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,039,417 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 75,651 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.93% of Viking Therapeutics worth $25,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 121.5% in the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 29,721 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 16,302 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 9,209.9% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $429,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at about $220,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $24.08. 6,836,773 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,483,938. The company's fifty day moving average is $30.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.17. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.92 and a fifty-two week high of $81.73. The stock has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of -15.74 and a beta of 0.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 period last year, the business posted ($0.20) EPS. Viking Therapeutics's revenue was up NaN% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the subject of several research reports. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Raymond James Financial reduced 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. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $87.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.