Cinctive Capital Management LP Buys 42,344 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Key Points

• Cinctive Capital Management LP increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 644%, owning 48,919 shares worth $1.18 million following a purchase of 42,344 additional shares in Q1.
• Viking Therapeutics reported a quarterly loss of ($0.58) EPS, missing analyst expectations and marking a decrease from a previous EPS of ($0.20).
• Several analysts have set new price targets for Viking Therapeutics, with HC Wainwright maintaining a target of $102.00 and Citigroup raising its target from $31.00 to $38.00.

Cinctive Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 644.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 48,919 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 42,344 shares during the quarter. Cinctive Capital Management LP's holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,181,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 228.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,479,596 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $59,540,000 after buying an additional 1,029,125 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 647,391 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $15,634,000 after buying an additional 28,922 shares during the period. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 597,739 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $24,053,000 after buying an additional 16,321 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 59.2% in the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 597,515 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $14,430,000 after purchasing an additional 222,293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 538,636 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $13,008,000 after purchasing an additional 2,652 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total value of $747,514.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,388,014 shares of the company's stock, valued at $66,386,789.20. This trade represents a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 4,266 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total transaction of $118,466.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 377,535 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,484,146.95. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,421 shares of company stock valued at $984,405 over the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup raised 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, July 24th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $86.92.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

VKTX traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $25.19. 2,573,471 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,777,386. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $18.92 and a one year high of $81.73. The company has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a PE ratio of -16.46 and a beta of 0.73. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $31.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.27.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.14). During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.20) EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up NaN% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect 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.