Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX Shares Acquired by Blair William & Co. IL

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 6.9% in Q2, owning a total of 330,007 shares valued at approximately $8.75 million.
• Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $86.42 according to analysts, with two analysts rating it as a Strong Buy.
• The company's recent quarterly earnings report showed a loss of ($0.58) earnings per share, missing the consensus estimate, and its revenue growth is currently not specified.

Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 330,007 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 21,442 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL owned 0.29% of Viking Therapeutics worth $8,745,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 1,621.4% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,205 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 1,135 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 33.4% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,818 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 571.4% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,041 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,737 shares in the last quarter. JNBA Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at $56,000. Finally, Flaharty Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth about $56,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VKTX. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $86.42.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $33.56 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of -21.93 and a beta of 0.64. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $29.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.08. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.92 and a twelve month high of $81.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.14). The company's revenue was up NaN% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.20) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Viking Therapeutics

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.