The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 34,180 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company trimmed its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 62.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,474 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 34,180 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,085,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $638,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403,820 shares during the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth about $294,380,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after purchasing an additional 525,296 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth about $78,586,000. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 6.3% in the second quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 714,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $37,880,000 after acquiring an additional 42,650 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on VKTX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total transaction of $1,195,818.58. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $546,535. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 5.4 %

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $65.84 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.49. The company has a market cap of $7.26 billion, a PE ratio of -70.80 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.28 and a 12-month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.19) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1 earnings per share for the current year.

About Viking Therapeutics

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.