Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Stock Position Boosted by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 124.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 243 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $28,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,157,000 after acquiring an additional 97,552 shares during the period. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 70.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 721.9% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 180,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $11,396,000 after purchasing an additional 158,100 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth $1,422,000. Finally, Blue Owl Capital Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $5,036,000. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VKTX. Raymond James lifted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $65.80 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.06. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.28 and a 52 week high of $99.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -70.75 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $69,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at $164,609,397.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $69,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $164,609,397.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $662,340. This 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 sold 516,671 shares of company stock worth $33,810,813. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Company 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.