Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Increases Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 19.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 144,543 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 23,481 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of Viking Therapeutics worth $3,491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,715,438 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $672,629,000 after purchasing an additional 96,008 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,713 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $75,704,000 after buying an additional 17,046 shares during the last quarter. Braidwell LP raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,479,666 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $59,542,000 after buying an additional 322,689 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 228.5% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 446.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,357,241 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $54,615,000 after buying an additional 1,108,972 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan acquired 1,240 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 31st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $24.15 per share, for a total transaction of $29,946.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,240 shares in the company, valued at $29,946. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on VKTX. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price target (down from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $87.15.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 5.9%

VKTX traded down $1.65 during trading on Friday, hitting $26.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,315,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,023,381. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.92 and a twelve month high of $81.73. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $27.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.06 and a beta of 0.65.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.31) by ($0.10). The firm's quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.26) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.