Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Purchased by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 715,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,122 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $45,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $660,250. The trade was a 52.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 2.9 %

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $52.94 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $62.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.61. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.82 and a 12 month high of $99.41. The firm has a market cap of $5.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -56.92 and a beta of 1.00.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, B. Riley began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $109.73.

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.