Private Wealth Partners LLC Buys Shares of 5,000 Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Private Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 5,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 370.7% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 353 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $61,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total transaction of $6,671,161.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $135,596,696.66. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 5,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.72, for a total value of $397,404.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $662,340. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total transaction of $6,671,161.22. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $135,596,696.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 290,241 shares of company stock valued at $17,786,475 in the last quarter. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Maxim Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $60.83 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $57.44 and a 200 day moving average of $63.89. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.28 and a 1-year high of $99.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.74 billion, a PE ratio of -65.41 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.19) EPS. Analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current year.

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.