Rhumbline Advisers Decreases Stock Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Rhumbline Advisers cut its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 11.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 114,533 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 14,662 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.10% of Viking Therapeutics worth $3,035,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 123,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,269,000 after acquiring an additional 6,172 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 88.8% during the second quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 2,139 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006 shares in the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 7.0% in the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 20,868 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $320,000. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 38.2% during the 2nd quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC now owns 13,383 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 3,696 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 6,185 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 382,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,386,345. The trade was a 1.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Charles A. Rowland, Jr. sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.57, for a total transaction of $2,134,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 30,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,067,100. This trade represents a 66.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 111,359 shares of company stock worth $3,932,155. 4.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on VKTX shares. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $105.00 price objective on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Zacks Research raised Viking Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.14.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 0.1%

VKTX stock opened at $38.55 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.92 and a 52-week high of $51.92. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.18 and a beta of 0.65.

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