J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Invests $310,000 in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 4,896 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $310,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $294,380,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $638,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403,820 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $63,565,000 after purchasing an additional 994,801 shares in the last quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth $55,098,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth $54,295,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total transaction of $7,426,846.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at $154,954,196.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total transaction of $7,426,846.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,954,196.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total transaction of $10,088,541.07. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,366 shares in the company, valued at $11,442,929.26. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 525,473 shares of company stock valued at $37,088,158. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. One research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of VKTX opened at $72.54 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $64.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.74. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.32 and a twelve month high of $99.41. The company has a market cap of $8.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -78.00 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.23) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

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.