Swiss National Bank Lowers Stock Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Swiss National Bank lessened its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 15.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 167,600 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 29,900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.17% of Viking Therapeutics worth $3,119,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rafferty Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 63.6% during the third quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 560,180 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $6,201,000 after purchasing an additional 217,827 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted 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 valued at $6,916,000 after purchasing an additional 349,186 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 100.4% during 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. lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 3.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,284,352 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $58,498,000 after purchasing an additional 171,995 shares during the period. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $148,000. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, March 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Raymond James raised shares of Viking Therapeutics from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $115.00 to $116.00 in a report on Thursday, May 16th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $112.38.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at $27,413,639.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value 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 approximately $13,059,845.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 owns 348,508 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $27,413,639.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.9 %

VKTX traded down $1.22 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $63.01. 3,113,556 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,195,146. The company has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a PE ratio of -67.63 and a beta of 1.12. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $72.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.25. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.28 and a 1 year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.08 EPS for the current 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.