Tejara Capital Ltd Raises Stock Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Tejara Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 79.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,007 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,097 shares during the period. Tejara Capital Ltd’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,802,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,139 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,163,000 after purchasing an additional 6,294 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 36.1% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,542 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 939 shares in the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $206,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 67.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 144,349 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,486,000 after buying an additional 58,168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 6.5% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 12,915 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 789 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 38,989 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.01, for a total transaction of $1,365,004.89. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,419,109 shares in the company, valued at $84,693,006.09. This represents a 1.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 6,185 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $216,475.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 173,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,075,720. This trade represents a 3.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 111,359 shares of company stock valued at $3,932,155. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $36.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.11 and a beta of 0.64. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.92 and a 52-week high of $54.73. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.66.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.67) by ($0.14). During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.22) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. B. Riley raised Viking Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Viking Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.14.

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.