Eventide Asset Management LLC Sells 187,290 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Key Points

• Eventide Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 42.3%, holding 255,407 shares worth approximately $6.17 million at the end of the first quarter.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on Viking Therapeutics, with Citigroup raising its price target to $38.00 while HC Wainwright set a target of $102.00, indicating a range of expectations for the stock's performance.
• Insider sales included 4,266 shares sold by CFO Greg Zante and COO Marianna Mancini, reflecting a decrease in their positions of 2.47% and 1.12% respectively.

Eventide Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 42.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 255,407 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 187,290 shares during the period. Eventide Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.23% of Viking Therapeutics worth $6,168,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 535,984 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $21,568,000 after acquiring an additional 54,871 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $59,540,000 after buying an additional 1,029,125 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 86,181 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $3,468,000 after buying an additional 5,634 shares during the period. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 2.8% in 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. Finally, FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $1,116,000. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX traded down $0.09 on Wednesday, hitting $25.19. 2,573,471 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,777,386. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $31.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.27. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.92 and a 52 week high of $81.73. The company has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.46 and a beta of 0.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.14). During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.20) EPS. Viking Therapeutics's revenue for the quarter was up NaN% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VKTX shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial decreased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 24th. 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $86.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total value of $747,514.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $118,424.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold 35,421 shares of company stock valued at $984,405 in the last three months. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Viking Therapeutics 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.