Caas Capital Management LP Purchases 26,000 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Caas Capital Management LP lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 151.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,207 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after buying an additional 26,000 shares during the period. Caas Capital Management LP's holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,043,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.6% during the fourth 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,713 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $75,704,000 after purchasing an additional 17,046 shares during the period. Braidwell LP raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 27.9% during the fourth 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. raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 228.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,479,596 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $59,540,000 after purchasing an additional 1,029,125 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 446.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,357,241 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $54,615,000 after purchasing an additional 1,108,972 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 2,388,014 shares in the company, valued at $66,386,789.20. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $118,466.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly 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 worth $984,405 in the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 1.7%

NASDAQ VKTX traded up $0.52 on Monday, reaching $31.63. The stock had a trading volume of 3,456,471 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,063,999. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $27.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.20. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.92 and a 1 year high of $81.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.50 and a beta of 0.62.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.10). During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.26) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VKTX. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Viking Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price target (down from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $87.15.

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.