KBC Group NV Grows Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

KBC Group NV raised its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 18.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,997 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $190,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,455. This trade represents a 53.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VKTX. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. HC Wainwright increased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.80.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $51.53 on Thursday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.21 and a 52-week high of $99.41. The company has a 50 day moving average of $64.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.76. The company has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -55.41 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share 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.