Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys 12,026 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 205.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 17,875 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,026 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC's holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $430,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. HighMark Wealth Management LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its position in 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 during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 7.5% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,911 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 2.7% during the first quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 18,729 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial dropped 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 research report on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price target 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the business'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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,388,014 shares in the company, valued at $66,386,789.20. The trade was a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 4,266 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the chief operating officer owned 377,535 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,484,146.95. This represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

VKTX traded up $0.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $26.98. 5,240,439 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,482,053. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.92 and a twelve month high of $81.73. The company has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.63 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.35.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter last year, the business posted ($0.20) EPS. Viking Therapeutics's quarterly revenue was up NaN% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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.