Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Position Boosted by Level Four Advisory Services LLC

Level Four Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 87.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 31,374 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 14,638 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $584,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VKTX. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 63.6% in the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 560,180 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $6,201,000 after buying an additional 217,827 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 1,557.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 371,604 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $6,916,000 after purchasing an additional 349,186 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 100.4% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 137,583 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $2,560,000 after purchasing an additional 68,921 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 3.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,284,352 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $58,498,000 after buying an additional 171,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $148,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VKTX. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James raised shares of Viking Therapeutics from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $115.00 to $116.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.38.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock traded down $3.28 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $64.23. 3,451,436 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,216,326. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $72.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.25. The company has a market capitalization of $7.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -69.06 and a beta of 1.12. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.28 and a 52-week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total transaction of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,413,639.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total transaction of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 348,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,413,639.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $4,986,005.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 174,854 shares in the company, valued at $13,059,845.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.