Creative Planning Has $835,000 Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Creative Planning grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 3.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,753 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 524 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $835,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 15.1% in the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 29,394 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $547,000 after buying an additional 3,866 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $20,841,000 after purchasing an additional 525,296 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $100,157,000 after purchasing an additional 97,552 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth about $976,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on VKTX shares. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.60.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.72, for a total value of $397,404.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $662,340. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 516,671 shares of company stock worth $33,810,813. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 5.4 %

VKTX stock opened at $65.84 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.28 and a 1-year high of $99.41. The firm has a market cap of $7.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -70.04 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50 day moving average is $61.47 and its 200-day moving average is $62.62.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 in the prior year, the business earned ($0.19) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1 EPS 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.