Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Increases Stock Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Key Points

• Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 6.1%, acquiring an additional 13,626 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 238,035 shares worth $5.75 million.
• Viking Therapeutics recently reported a quarterly earnings loss of ($0.58) per share, which fell short of analysts' expectations of ($0.44), while the company's stock has seen a 5.1% increase recently.
• Insider selling has occurred with CEO Brian Lian and CFO Greg Zante offloading portions of their respective holdings, contributing to a total of 35,421 shares sold valued at approximately $984,405 over the last 90 days.

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 6.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 238,035 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 13,626 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC owned approximately 0.21% of Viking Therapeutics worth $5,749,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Braidwell LP boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,479,666 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $59,542,000 after purchasing an additional 322,689 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 228.5% in the 4th 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 period. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 647,391 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $15,634,000 after buying an additional 28,922 shares during the period. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 597,739 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $24,053,000 after buying an additional 16,321 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 59.2% in the 1st quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 597,515 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $14,430,000 after purchasing an additional 222,293 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VKTX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial cut their price target on shares of 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. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price target (down from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Two 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $86.92.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX stock traded down $0.03 during trading on Thursday, reaching $25.66. 8,988,811 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,696,826. The company has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.77 and a beta of 0.67. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.92 and a 52-week high of $81.73. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $31.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.71.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 4,266 shares of the company'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 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 represents a 1.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total transaction of $747,514.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,388,014 shares of the company's stock, valued at $66,386,789.20. The trade was a 1.11% 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. Insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

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.