Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Acquires 66,358 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 42.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 224,409 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 66,358 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC owned approximately 0.20% of Viking Therapeutics worth $9,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,052,176,000 after purchasing an additional 79,149 shares during the last quarter. Braidwell LP boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $73,248,000 after buying an additional 50,072 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% in the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,902,000 after acquiring an additional 143,675 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 6.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 715,597 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,304,000 after acquiring an additional 44,122 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 628,764 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,301,000 after acquiring an additional 35,236 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849 in the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Citigroup began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target for the company. Maxim Group decreased their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.29.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of VKTX opened at $27.94 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.94 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.65. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.41 and a 12 month high of $96.74.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Viking Therapeutics Company 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.