Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Raises Stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 27.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 71,193 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,244 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Viking Therapeutics worth $2,865,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% during the fourth quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at $75,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the business'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 $8,314,447.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at $101,170,867.50. The trade was a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 374,134 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX stock traded down $0.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $25.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,972,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,896,595. The stock has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.65 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $30.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.60. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.41 and a 52-week high of $82.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.25) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on VKTX shares. Maxim Group lowered their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a "sector outperform" rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $96.00 price objective (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $95.18.

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.