Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC lowered its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 40.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,799 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 13,280 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 22.7% in the 1st quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 118,613 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,865,000 after buying an additional 21,911 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 25.4% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,793 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $116,000 after acquiring an additional 972 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 38.8% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,857 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $93,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 484 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 59.2% during the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 597,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,430,000 after acquiring an additional 222,293 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 6,185 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $216,475.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 382,467 shares in the company, valued at $13,386,345. This represents a 1.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 6,185 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $216,475.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 173,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,075,720. This trade represents a 3.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 111,359 shares of company stock worth $3,932,155 over the last ninety days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on VKTX. B. Riley upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $105.00 target price on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded Viking Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.14.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $38.55 on Monday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.92 and a fifty-two week high of $51.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.18 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $34.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.06.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.67) by ($0.14). Viking Therapeutics’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.22) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal 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.