Eventide Asset Management LLC Buys 200,000 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Eventide Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 79.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 200,000 shares during the period. Eventide Asset Management LLC owned about 0.41% of Viking Therapeutics worth $28,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 4,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This represents a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,293,756.55. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009 in the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $54.51 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $62.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.83. The firm has a market cap of $6.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -58.61 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.55 and a 1 year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on VKTX. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. B. Riley assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $109.73.

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.