Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Bought by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 15.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 537,239 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 73,710 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $21,516,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. FIL Ltd raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 851 shares during the period. Finally, S.A. Mason LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan purchased 1,240 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 31st. The stock was bought at an average price of $24.15 per share, for a total transaction of $29,946.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 1,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,946. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VKTX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reduced 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Maxim Group decreased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $30.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.15.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 2.6 %

VKTX opened at $29.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.36 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.21. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.92 and a 52 week high of $81.86.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.10). The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.26) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Viking Therapeutics

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.