Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Makes New Investment in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 25,258 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $648,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 301,582 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,136,000 after acquiring an additional 25,824 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $833,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 18.2% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 96,702 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,891,000 after purchasing an additional 14,873 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $429,000. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 20,215 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $813,000 after purchasing an additional 1,707 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.92.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total transaction of $747,514.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,388,014 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $66,386,789.20. This trade represents a 1.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total transaction of $118,424.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,682,001.60. This represents a 2.47% 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 ninety days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $33.20 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.70 and a beta of 0.62. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $28.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.54. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.92 and a 52 week high of $81.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.14). Viking Therapeutics’s revenue for the quarter was up NaN% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.20) EPS. Analysts forecast 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.