Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Sells 196,323 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA decreased its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 28.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 486,586 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 196,323 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $15,863,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 11.3% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 15,403 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $502,000 after acquiring an additional 1,570 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 30,419 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $992,000 after purchasing an additional 3,328 shares during the last quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 43.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quadcap Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,272 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 2,514 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.2% in the third quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 50,459 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,645,000 after buying an additional 2,052 shares during the period. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 371.4% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,305 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 1,816 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on VKTX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $106.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.36.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 3.0%

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $27.58 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $23.82 and a 1-year high of $43.10. The company has a current ratio of 7.27, a quick ratio of 7.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a 50-day moving average of $29.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.18. The company has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a PE ratio of -5.11 and a beta of 0.79.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.55) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.06) by ($0.49). During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.81) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -5.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Viking Therapeutics Company Profile

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in San Diego, California. Founded in 2012, it develops medicines for metabolic and endocrine disorders and does not have commercially marketed products. The company’s pipeline includes VK2735, an investigational drug that targets the GLP-1 and GIP receptors and is being developed for obesity, and VK2809, a thyroid hormone receptor beta agonist being studied for metabolic and liver conditions. Viking is also developing VK0214 for X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy, a rare genetic disorder.