EFG Asset Management North America Corp. Has $1.19 Million Stock Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Key Points

• EFG Asset Management North America Corp. decreased its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. by 31.6%, holding 49,124 shares valued at approximately $1.19 million as of its latest SEC filing.
• Institutional investors own 76.03% of Viking Therapeutics stock, with several firms making significant adjustments to their holdings in recent quarters.
• Viking Therapeutics reported a loss of ($0.58) EPS for the last quarter, missing consensus estimates, while analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Buy" with a target price of $86.92.

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. decreased its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 31.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,124 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 22,649 shares during the period. EFG Asset Management North America Corp.'s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,186,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HighMark Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 9.4% during the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,660 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 3.2% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,470 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $349,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,911 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 18,729 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $452,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Two 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $86.92.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 1.1%

VKTX opened at $26.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.34 and a beta of 0.73. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.92 and a twelve month high of $81.73. The company's 50-day moving average price is $31.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.42.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last released its 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). Viking Therapeutics's revenue was up NaN% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.20) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total transaction of $747,514.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,388,014 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,386,789.20. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 35,421 shares of company stock worth $984,405. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.

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