Formidable Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Formidable Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 32.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,768 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,896 shares during the quarter. Formidable Asset Management LLC's holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of VKTX. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 21,997 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $885,000 after acquiring an additional 2,689 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 196,200 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $7,895,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 27.2% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 71,193 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,865,000 after purchasing an additional 15,244 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,024 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $564,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the period. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $194,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Truist Financial reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $30.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $87.15.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total value of $118,424.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,682,001.60. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total value of $747,514.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,388,014 shares in the company, valued at $66,386,789.20. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 35,421 shares of company stock worth $984,405. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock traded down $0.06 on Friday, reaching $32.01. The company had a trading volume of 3,387,022 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,066,841. The firm has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.83 and a beta of 0.62. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $27.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.97. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.92 and a 1 year high of $81.73.

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). During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.26) earnings per share. Viking Therapeutics's quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current 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.