9,855 Shares in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Bought by Banque Pictet & Cie SA

Banque Pictet & Cie SA acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,855 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% during the first 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 during the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 222,100.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,222 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 2,221 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $56,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $31.11. The stock had a trading volume of 2,829,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,058,336. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.92 and a 12 month high of $81.73. The business has a fifty day moving average of $27.58 and a 200 day moving average of $29.46.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.31) by ($0.10). Viking Therapeutics's revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.26) EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the company'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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,660 shares in the company, valued at $4,682,001.60. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,388,014 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $66,386,789.20. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,421 shares of company stock worth $984,405 over the last three months. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company 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 assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $87.15.

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.