New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Buys New Stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Key Points

• New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics, purchasing 50,000 shares valued at approximately $1.2 million in the 1st quarter.
• Institutional investors now own 76.03% of Viking Therapeutics, with multiple firms increasing their stakes significantly, indicating growing interest in the company.
• Viking Therapeutics has recently received varied ratings from analysts, including a price target increase from Citigroup, highlighting analyst optimism despite missing earnings estimates.

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 50,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,208,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $63,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 108.5% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,068 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 1,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $53,000 after buying an additional 2,221 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 analysts have commented on VKTX shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, April 28th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $86.92.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the business'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 owned 168,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,682,001.60. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 4,266 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total transaction of $118,466.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 377,535 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,484,146.95. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,421 shares of company stock valued at $984,405 in the last quarter. Insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 11.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $35.56 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.92 and a fifty-two week high of $81.73. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.58. The company has a market cap of $4.00 billion, a PE ratio of -23.24 and a beta of 0.67.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.20) EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up NaN% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viking Therapeutics Company 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.

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