Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 715,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 44,122 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 0.64% of Viking Therapeutics worth $45,304,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on VKTX shares. B. Riley started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $52.94 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.92 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $62.42 and a 200 day moving average of $59.61. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.82 and a 1-year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $660,250. This trade represents a 52.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

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.