Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Holdings Decreased by HRT Financial LP

HRT Financial LP lowered its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 28.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 271,255 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 108,311 shares during the period. HRT Financial LP owned 0.27% of Viking Therapeutics worth $4,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $53,000. Denali Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at about $55,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 177.3% during the 1st quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 23,002 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 14,708 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, May 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 24th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, August 8th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $35.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $14.50 on Tuesday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $2.53 and a 52 week high of $25.72. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $14.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.79.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.02. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.23) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.