American Century Companies Inc. Has $7.19 Million Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

American Century Companies Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 1.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 297,729 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 3,853 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.27% of Viking Therapeutics worth $7,190,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HighMark Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 9.4% during the first quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,660 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $113,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 3.2% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,470 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $349,000 after buying an additional 446 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 7.5% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,911 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $167,000 after buying an additional 484 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 2.7% in the first quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 18,729 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 497 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% in the first 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. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 168,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,682,001.60. This represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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 in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 35,421 shares of company stock valued at $984,405 in the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $86.92.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of VKTX opened at $26.62 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.40 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $31.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.54. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.92 and a 12 month high of $81.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.14). The company’s revenue for the quarter was up NaN% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.20) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.