Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Holdings Lifted by Activest Wealth Management

Activest Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,745 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 500 shares during the quarter. Activest Wealth Management’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $110,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 77.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 45,809 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,756,000 after buying an additional 20,023 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 195.9% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,942 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $569,000 after purchasing an additional 4,596 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $638,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403,820 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at about $327,000. Finally, American International Group Inc. increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 5.6% during the first quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 50,466 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,138,000 after acquiring an additional 2,672 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,293,756.55. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $660,250. The trade was a 52.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.80.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX traded down $0.32 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $51.21. 257,456 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,529,475. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.21 and a 1-year high of $99.41. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.76.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 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.