International Assets Investment Management LLC Acquires 9,308 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 50.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 27,584 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,308 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $666,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 40,753 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,640,000 after purchasing an additional 3,192 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 27.6% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 8,840 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 1,912 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 94.6% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 7,480 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 3,636 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 107.5% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 42,124 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,697,000 after acquiring an additional 21,825 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 462,964 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $18,630,000 after acquiring an additional 41,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $27.09 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $27.05 and its 200-day moving average is $30.76. The company has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.56 and a beta of 0.65. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.92 and a 52-week high of $81.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.31) by ($0.10). Viking Therapeutics’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.26) earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan acquired 1,240 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.15 per share, for a total transaction of $29,946.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 1,240 shares in the company, valued at $29,946. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on VKTX shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective (down from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.15.

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.