Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Reduces Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lowered its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 19.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 236,601 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 56,984 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $12,542,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,157,000 after buying an additional 97,552 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 70.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at $1,422,000. Wasatch Advisors LP increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% during the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $23,727,000 after purchasing an additional 311,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at $262,000. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 3.4 %

VKTX stock opened at $70.47 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -75.77 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.21. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.28 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.19) earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the subject of several recent research reports. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Maxim Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. One research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total transaction of $1,195,818.58. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $546,535. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total value of $6,671,161.22. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.