Discovery Capital Management LLC CT Has $5.01 Million Stock Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Discovery Capital Management LLC CT cut its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 124,400 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 7,000 shares during the quarter. Discovery Capital Management LLC CT’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $5,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,713 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $75,704,000 after purchasing an additional 17,046 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,464,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,115,068 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $44,870,000 after buying an additional 81,183 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 728,652 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,321,000 after buying an additional 13,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 628,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,301,000 after buying an additional 35,236 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VKTX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 target price (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. 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 on the stock. Maxim Group cut their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.18.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 5.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $24.15 on Tuesday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $23.27 and a 12-month high of $82.00. The firm has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of -24.15 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.22.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

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.