ADAR1 Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

ADAR1 Capital Management LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 31.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 9,300 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the period. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,715,438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $672,629,000 after buying an additional 96,008 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,880,713 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $75,704,000 after acquiring an additional 17,046 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 446.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,357,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $54,615,000 after acquiring an additional 1,108,972 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $51,464,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,115,068 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $44,870,000 after purchasing an additional 81,183 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan bought 1,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $24.15 per share, with a total value of $29,946.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 1,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,946. The trade was a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Maxim Group dropped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price target (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.18.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $22.62 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $29.32 and a 200-day moving average of $45.06. The company has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of -22.62 and a beta of 0.84. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $20.20 and a one year high of $81.86.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.