Cerity Partners LLC Invests $884,000 in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 13,969 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $884,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 140.8% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 802 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company's stock.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock traded up $0.92 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $50.80. 2,669,376 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,478,753. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $61.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.11. The firm has a market cap of $5.66 billion, a P/E ratio of -55.35 and a beta of 0.88. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $16.70 and a 1 year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 last year, the business earned ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday. They set an "overweight" rating and a $74.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $106.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,250. The trade was a 52.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The stock was 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. This represents a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009 in the last ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.