Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 4,585 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 0.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,863,667 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,585 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $118,020,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $32,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,455. This represents a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total transaction of $10,088,541.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,442,929.26. This represents a 46.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009 in the last three months. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX opened at $46.70 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -50.22 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.20. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.23 and a twelve month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on VKTX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $106.75.

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.