NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd Buys 32,559 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 757.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 36,857 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,559 shares during the period. NINE MASTS CAPITAL Ltd’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $26,000. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the third 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 period. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler dropped their target price 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. Raymond James increased their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Maxim Group decreased their price objective on 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, Scotiabank began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $28.87 on Monday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $27.20 and a 52-week high of $96.74. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.07. The stock has a market cap of $3.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -28.87 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.25) EPS. On average, analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

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.