Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Takes $674,000 Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 27,911 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $674,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% in the 1st 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. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 108.5% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,068 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 4,266 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total value of $118,466.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 377,535 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,484,146.95. The trade was a 1.12% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the business's 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,421 shares of company stock valued at $984,405 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on VKTX shares. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Viking Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $86.92.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $34.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.50 and a beta of 0.62. The business's 50-day moving average is $28.52 and its 200-day moving average is $28.67. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.14). The firm's quarterly revenue was up NaN% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.20) earnings per share. 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.

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