Rafferty Asset Management LLC Sells 87,394 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC sold 87,394 shares of Viking Therapeutics, reducing its stake by 32.2% to own 183,769 shares worth approximately $4.4 million.
• Institutional investors own 76.03% of Viking Therapeutics, with several firms increasing their positions during the first quarter.
• Viking Therapeutics reported a loss of ($0.58) earnings per share, which missed analysts' estimates, and its shares are currently priced at $27.58.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC cut its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 32.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 183,769 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 87,394 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC owned 0.16% of Viking Therapeutics worth $4,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighMark Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 9.4% in the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,660 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $113,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Xponance Inc. raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 3.2% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,470 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 7.5% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,911 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 2.7% in the first quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 18,729 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $86.92.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $27.58 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.03 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.52. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.92 and a fifty-two week high of $81.73.

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 for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.14). Viking Therapeutics's revenue was up NaN% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.20) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 2,388,014 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total value 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. The trade was a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 35,421 shares of company stock worth $984,405. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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