Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 3,719 Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,719 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 4,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 12,278 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total transaction of $69,900.00. Following the completion of 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. The trade was a 0.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 377,817 shares of company stock valued at $27,607,313. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $49.58 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -53.31 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $64.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.19. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $10.34 and a 1-year high of $99.41.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VKTX. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned 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 $109.80.

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.