FORA Capital LLC Decreases Stock Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Key Points

• FORA Capital LLC reduced its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 59.9%, holding 11,115 shares valued at $268,000 as of the latest SEC filing.
• Institutional investors significantly hold 76.03% of Viking Therapeutics' stock, with various hedge funds adjusting their positions during the first quarter.
• Viking Therapeutics' stock has an average rating of "Buy" from analysts, with a current consensus price target of $86.92, despite a recent earnings miss.

FORA Capital LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 59.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,115 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 16,629 shares during the quarter. FORA Capital LLC's holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 108.5% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,068 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,076 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 222,100.0% during the 1st quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,222 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 2,221 shares during the period. JNBA Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 1,242.9% in the 1st quarter. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC now owns 2,350 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 2,175 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VKTX has been the subject of several recent research reports. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut their target price on 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $86.92.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock traded down $0.53 during trading on Monday, reaching $27.05. 3,791,572 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,774,186. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.92 and a 1-year high of $81.73. The company has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.68 and a beta of 0.73. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $31.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.46.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.14). During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.20) earnings per share. The business's revenue was up NaN% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $66,386,789.20. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 value of $118,424.16. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 168,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,682,001.60. The trade was a 2.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 35,421 shares of company stock valued at $984,405. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

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.