State Street Corp Sells 448,361 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

State Street Corp lessened its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,674,067 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 448,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned 4.19% of Viking Therapeutics worth $295,915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,052,176,000 after buying an additional 79,149 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% during the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,350,000 after acquiring an additional 452,344 shares during the period. Braidwell LP raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $73,248,000 after acquiring an additional 50,072 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,565,000 after acquiring an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,902,000 after purchasing an additional 143,675 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on VKTX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. B. Riley started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price on the stock. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $106.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 8.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $715,850.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $660,250. The trade was a 52.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

VKTX stock opened at $47.85 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $60.67 and a 200-day moving average of $58.75. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.70 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -51.45 and a beta of 0.89.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.23) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 EPS for the current 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.