LPL Financial LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 22.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 118,613 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,911 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.11% of Viking Therapeutics worth $2,865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in VKTX. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 92,556 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,723,000 after acquiring an additional 9,825 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 40.5% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 14,426 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $580,000 after buying an additional 4,161 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 221.5% during the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 13,251 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $533,000 after buying an additional 9,129 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 108.5% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,068 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 1,076 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 20,114 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $809,000 after buying an additional 2,256 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total transaction of $118,424.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 168,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,682,001.60. This trade represents a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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 transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 377,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,484,146.95. This trade represents a 1.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,421 shares of company stock valued at $984,405 over the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $40.03 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.16 and a beta of 0.67. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.92 and a 52 week high of $81.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.44) by ($0.14). During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.20) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up NaN% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price target (down from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 28th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.92.

Viking Therapeutics 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.