Fmr LLC Buys 79,149 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Fmr LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 79,149 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned 0.15% of Viking Therapeutics worth $1,052,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Perpetual Ltd grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% during the third quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,350,000 after buying an additional 452,344 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 994,801 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its position in 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 last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 715,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $45,304,000 after purchasing an additional 44,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 6.3% during the second quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 714,578 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $37,880,000 after purchasing an additional 42,650 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. B. Riley initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $54.51 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $63.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.91. The company has a market capitalization of $6.07 billion, a PE ratio of -58.61 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $11.55 and a 52 week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $660,250. This trade represents a 52.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

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.