Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC Increases Stock Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 9.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 267,772 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,000 shares during the period. Quinn Opportunity Partners LLC owned approximately 0.24% of Viking Therapeutics worth $7,096,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 14,961 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 58.4% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 955 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 6,220 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $165,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares during the last quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC now owns 44,060 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,168,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 14,470 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $349,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on VKTX shares. Raymond James Financial dropped their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut Viking Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.07.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 6,185 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $216,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 382,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,386,345. This trade represents a 1.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 6,185 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $216,475.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 173,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,075,720. The trade was a 3.44% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 111,359 shares of company stock worth $3,932,155. 4.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $40.60 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.95. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $18.92 and a one year high of $62.50. The firm has a market cap of $4.59 billion, a PE ratio of -19.15 and a beta of 0.64.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.67) by ($0.14). During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.22) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

About Viking Therapeutics

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.