Inspire Investing LLC Purchases 3,566 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 54.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,085 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,566 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Oak Ridge Investments LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $837,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 43.5% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 102,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,478,000 after acquiring an additional 31,011 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth approximately $999,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 88.0% in the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 36,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,322,000 after acquiring an additional 17,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 92.1% during 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX stock opened at $34.50 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.40. The company has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -37.10 and a beta of 0.95. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $20.92 and a 52-week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on VKTX. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price target on the stock. B. Riley started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $106.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 432,701 shares of company stock valued at $23,008,730 in the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.