International Assets Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

International Assets Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 98.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,276 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 985,757 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $752,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% in the third quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 4,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $273,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VKTX has been the subject of several analyst reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $40.60 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a PE ratio of -43.66 and a beta of 0.95. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.15 and a 52-week high of $99.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $50.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.64.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,455. This represents a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 443,701 shares of company stock worth $23,898,520. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.