MN Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires New Shares in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

MN Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 5,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $237,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC raised 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 valued at $1,052,176,000 after acquiring an additional 79,149 shares in the last quarter. Braidwell LP raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% in the third quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,248,000 after purchasing an additional 50,072 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,565,000 after purchasing an additional 994,801 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,902,000 after purchasing an additional 143,675 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 worth $45,304,000 after purchasing an additional 44,122 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 3.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $30.48 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $37.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.85. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.48 and a beta of 0.90. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.64 and a 52 week high of $99.41.

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 period last year, the firm posted ($0.25) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on VKTX shares. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $96.00 price objective (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Maxim Group cut their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value 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 approximately $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

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.