Venturi Wealth Management LLC Makes New $196,000 Investment in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 3,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $196,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 4,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $273,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 3.1% during 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 during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $55.06 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -59.20 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $64.72 and its 200 day moving average is $61.66. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $10.34 and a 52 week 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, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.23) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total value of $7,426,846.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,954,196.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total value of $7,426,846.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 16,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.22, for a total transaction of $995,520.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $591,090. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 506,687 shares of company stock worth $36,029,679 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on VKTX shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. HC Wainwright increased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.