Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Acquires 15,244 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 27.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,193 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,244 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned about 0.06% of Viking Therapeutics worth $2,865,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $75,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last three months. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley reiterated 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, Scotiabank began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.67.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $27.98 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -27.98 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $30.73 and its 200 day moving average is $47.14. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.41 and a 52 week high of $89.10.

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

About Viking Therapeutics

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.