Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB Reduces Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB reduced its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 12.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 12,500 shares during the period. Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB owned approximately 0.08% of Viking Therapeutics worth $3,622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 4,980 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $221,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 28,929 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,164,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 2,165 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 420 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan acquired 1,240 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 31st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $24.15 per share, with a total value of $29,946.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 1,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,946. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on VKTX. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Maxim Group lowered their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.18.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $22.62 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.32. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.53 and a 1 year high of $81.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of -22.62 and a beta of 0.84.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results 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 business posted ($0.25) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 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.