Magnetar Financial LLC Invests $1.94 Million in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 48,102 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,936,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Stone House Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $75,000. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $28.35 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.41 and a 52-week high of $89.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.91. The stock has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.35 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on VKTX. Maxim Group dropped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.67.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company 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.