Invesco Ltd. Sells 787,865 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Invesco Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 90.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 84,981 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 787,865 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.08% of Viking Therapeutics worth $2,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HighMark Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 9.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 3.2% in the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,470 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $349,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 7.5% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,911 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC grew its position in 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 worth $452,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on VKTX shares. Raymond James Financial decreased their target price 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. 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 report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.92.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total transaction of $747,514.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,388,014 shares in the company, valued at $66,386,789.20. This represents a 1.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $4,682,001.60. The trade was a 2.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,421 shares of company stock worth $984,405 in the last ninety days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $27.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.68 and a beta of 0.67. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $18.92 and a one year high of $81.73. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $31.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.49.

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

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.