Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 3,109 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 15.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,751 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 3,109 shares during the period. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $674,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Activest Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 1,745 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, S.A. Mason LLC raised its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 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 $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849 over the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Maxim Group reduced their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.31.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $29.10 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a PE ratio of -29.10 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $49.96. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $24.41 and a 1-year high of $89.10.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal 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.