Raymond James & Associates Raises Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 43.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 441,590 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 133,144 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.40% of Viking Therapeutics worth $27,957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 140.8% during the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total value of $1,029,825.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 516,671 shares of company stock worth $33,810,813 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

VKTX opened at $60.39 on Thursday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.28 and a 1-year high of $99.41. The stock has a market cap of $6.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -64.94 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.67.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.19) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1 EPS for the current fiscal 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.