Crewe Advisors LLC Buys New Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 16,366 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,036,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at $327,000. American International Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 5.6% during the first quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 50,466 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,672 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 774.9% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 76,636 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $6,295,000 after purchasing an additional 67,877 shares in the last quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at about $262,000. Finally, BOKF NA bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $985,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This represents a 8.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,455. The trade was a 53.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VKTX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $52.59 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.55 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.38. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.55 and a 1 year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released 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 prior year, the business earned ($0.23) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

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.