Rhumbline Advisers Sells 1,032 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Rhumbline Advisers decreased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 0.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 129,195 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 1,032 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned about 0.12% of Viking Therapeutics worth $3,120,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. HighMark Wealth Management LLC increased 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 buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 3.2% during the first quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,470 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 7.5% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,911 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $167,000 after buying an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 2.7% during the first quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 18,729 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of Viking Therapeutics 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $66,386,789.20. This trade represents a 1.11% 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 valued at $984,405. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VKTX. Raymond James Financial dropped 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 report on Thursday, July 24th. 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. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $87.50.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX opened at $24.08 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $30.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.17. 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 $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of -15.74 and a beta of 0.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its 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). During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.20) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up NaN% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast 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.