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

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 20,230 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $814,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 131,348 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,316,000 after purchasing an additional 62,956 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 6.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 715,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,304,000 after buying an additional 44,122 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 109.1% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 34,023 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,154,000 after buying an additional 17,754 shares in the last quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 122.4% during the fourth quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 80,602 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,243,000 after buying an additional 44,365 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 103.1% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 42,612 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,715,000 after acquiring an additional 21,627 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $30.07 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.49 and a 200 day moving average of $48.04. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.41 and a 1 year high of $89.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.07 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced 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 quarter last year, the business earned ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on VKTX. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Maxim Group lowered their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price objective (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This trade represents 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 worth $12,782,849 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

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.