Arizona State Retirement System Sells 1,817 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Arizona State Retirement System cut its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,768 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,817 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. Retirement Group LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $63,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on VKTX shares. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 15th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $63.42 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -68.93 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.43. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.28 and a 12-month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25). During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.26) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total value of $7,230,152.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,184,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,707,779.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total value of $7,230,152.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,184,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,707,779.34. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 329,079 shares of company stock worth $8,769,653. 4.70% 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.