Northern Trust Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 11.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 535,984 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 54,871 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.48% of Viking Therapeutics worth $21,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. FIL Ltd increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, S.A. Mason LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan purchased 1,240 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $24.15 per share, for a total transaction of $29,946.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 1,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,946. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a "sector outperform" rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.15.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 2.7%

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $28.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.30 and a beta of 0.75. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.92 and a twelve month high of $81.73. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $26.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.38.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.10). During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.26) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share 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.

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.