Handelsbanken Fonder AB Cuts Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Handelsbanken Fonder AB reduced its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 32,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 3,700 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 58.4% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 955 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 352 shares during the period. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1,621.4% in the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,205 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 33.4% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,818 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 571.4% in the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,041 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,737 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VKTX has been the subject of a number of research reports. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.14.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $36.78 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.35 and a beta of 0.64. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $18.92 and a one year high of $54.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $33.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.72.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.67) by ($0.14). During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.22) earnings per share. Viking Therapeutics’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 6,185 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $216,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 173,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,075,720. The trade was a 3.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 38,989 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.01, for a total transaction of $1,365,004.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,419,109 shares in the company, valued at $84,693,006.09. This represents a 1.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 111,359 shares of company stock worth $3,932,155 in the last ninety days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.