E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Cuts Stock Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. lessened its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 22.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,195 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 6,582 shares during the quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 3.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,284,352 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,498,000 after acquiring an additional 171,995 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 59.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,202,228 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,379,000 after purchasing an additional 822,156 shares during the last quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C now owns 1,279,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $14,159,000 after acquiring an additional 154,000 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 864,589 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $9,571,000 after buying an additional 38,695 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 775,699 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,436,000 after buying an additional 10,379 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total value of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,413,639.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $4,986,005.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 174,854 shares in the company, valued at $13,059,845.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total transaction of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,413,639.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on VKTX. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $37.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Maxim Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ VKTX traded up $0.29 during trading on Thursday, reaching $80.20. 2,391,932 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,348,038. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.28 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -85.78 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $73.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.14.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.25) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.08 earnings per share for the current 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.