Financial Counselors Inc. Boosts Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Financial Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 43.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,476 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 16,823 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 222,100.0% in the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,222 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 2,221 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position 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 worth $55,000 after buying an additional 851 shares during the period. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $56,000. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the 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 owned 168,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,682,001.60. This represents a 2.47% 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 quarter. Insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $31.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,744,564 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,057,094. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $18.92 and a one year high of $81.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.05 and a beta of 0.62. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $27.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.46.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.26) EPS. Viking Therapeutics's revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $87.15.

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.