Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Bought by Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 18.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 121,062 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 18,738 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. owned 0.11% of Viking Therapeutics worth $4,872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 462,964 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $18,630,000 after buying an additional 41,400 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 107.5% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 42,124 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,697,000 after purchasing an additional 21,825 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $2,481,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 183,400 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,380,000 after purchasing an additional 3,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighMark Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 42.0% in the 4th quarter. HighMark Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,260 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VKTX. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Maxim Group reduced their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $28.87 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $27.20 and a 1 year high of $96.74. The company has a market capitalization of $3.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.87 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s fifty day moving average is $34.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.15.

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 firm earned ($0.25) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

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.