RTW Investments LP Invests $16.65 Million in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

RTW Investments LP acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,650,000. RTW Investments LP owned approximately 1.00% of Viking Therapeutics at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth about $55,000. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at about $63,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at about $151,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 2,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 10,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $100,000. 78.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VKTX. Raymond James increased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $35.00 to $37.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, May 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.25.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

VKTX traded up $1.28 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $15.89. 2,868,886 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,181,279. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $14.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.46 and a beta of 0.52. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $2.53 and a 52 week high of $25.72.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.02. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.91 EPS for the current 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.