Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Takes $814,000 Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 20,230 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $814,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the fourth 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 during the period. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $75,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of VKTX opened at $30.07 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.07 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.41 and a fifty-two week high of $89.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $31.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.04.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.25) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on VKTX shares. Piper Sandler reduced their price target 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. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 target price (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $97.67.

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.