JW Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 45,000 Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

JW Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 45,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $2,849,000. Viking Therapeutics makes up 1.3% of JW Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $768,455. This trade represents a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 0.0 %

NASDAQ:VKTX traded up $0.02 on Wednesday, hitting $51.53. 3,496,787 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,548,423. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.42 and a 200-day moving average of $60.82. The stock has a market cap of $5.74 billion, a PE ratio of -56.12 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.21 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $109.80.

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.