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

Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 39.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,172 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 892 shares during the quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prospera Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $298,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 144.1% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,958 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $124,000 after buying an additional 1,156 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,251 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,789,000 after acquiring an additional 748 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $844,000. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth approximately $206,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. This represents a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 1.9 %

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $52.59 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.55 and a twelve month high of $99.41. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $63.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.38. The company has a market cap of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of -56.55 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.23) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.