Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $12.52 Million Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 12.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 518,298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,334 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.46% of Viking Therapeutics worth $12,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VKTX. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 536 shares during the period. FIL Ltd increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 222,100.0% in the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 2,221 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at $56,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $32.01 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.89. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.92 and a 52 week high of $81.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.83 and a beta of 0.62.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.10). The company’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.26) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total transaction of $747,514.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,388,014 shares in the company, valued at approximately $66,386,789.20. The trade was a 1.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 4,266 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.77, for a total transaction of $118,466.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 377,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,484,146.95. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 35,421 shares of company stock worth $984,405. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VKTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target (down previously from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.15.

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.