Fred Alger Management LLC Sells 78,415 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Fred Alger Management LLC trimmed its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 13.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 488,869 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 78,415 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $30,950,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Braidwell LP boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $73,248,000 after purchasing an additional 50,072 shares during the last quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% in the third quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,677,000 after buying an additional 200,000 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 80.6% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 7,721 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $489,000 after acquiring an additional 3,446 shares during the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 109.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 34,023 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,154,000 after acquiring an additional 17,754 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Counselors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,911,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VKTX. B. Riley initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target on the stock. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $660,250. This represents a 52.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 2.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $52.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.92 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.82 and a 12 month high of $99.41. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.83.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share 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.