Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stake Lifted by Meeder Asset Management Inc.

Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 144.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,958 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,156 shares during the quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $124,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter worth $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 243 shares during the period. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $889,790.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,455. This trade represents a 53.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $51.53 on Thursday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $11.21 and a one year high of $99.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of -55.41 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $64.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.76.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.23) EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.80.

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.