Discovery Capital Management LLC CT Sells 7,000 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Discovery Capital Management LLC CT lessened its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,400 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 7,000 shares during the quarter. Discovery Capital Management LLC CT owned 0.11% of Viking Therapeutics worth $5,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. S.A. Mason LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX stock opened at $24.15 on Tuesday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $23.27 and a 52 week high of $82.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.22. The company has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of -24.15 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 target price (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Maxim Group cut their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $8,314,447.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.