Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Bought by WealthTrust Asset Management LLC

WealthTrust Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,923 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the period. WealthTrust Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the third quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 40.2% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 1,745 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, S.A. Mason LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of Viking Therapeutics 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 $2,317,691.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $30.89 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.89 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.41 and a 1 year high of $89.10. The business’s fifty day moving average is $32.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.25) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler cut their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price target (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.67.

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.