Avior Wealth Management LLC Acquires 892 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 39.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,172 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 892 shares during the period. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oak Ridge Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth $837,000. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 43.5% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 102,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,478,000 after purchasing an additional 31,011 shares in the last quarter. Nvwm LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $999,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.0% in the 3rd quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 36,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,322,000 after buying an additional 17,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 38,143 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,415,000 after buying an additional 9,699 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $52.59 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $63.73 and a 200 day moving average of $60.38. The firm has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of -56.55 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $11.55 and a one year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 149,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,442,929.26. This represents a 46.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. This represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009 over the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on VKTX. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. HC Wainwright raised their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $109.73.

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.