13,334 Shares in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Bought by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 13,334 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $844,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Curi RMB Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $382,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,997 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $190,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 43.5% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 102,324 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $6,478,000 after acquiring an additional 31,011 shares during the period. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 34.1% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 38,143 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $2,415,000 after purchasing an additional 9,699 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on VKTX shares. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James lifted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $109.80.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX traded up $0.21 during trading on Thursday, reaching $51.75. 2,883,893 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,542,820. The company has a 50 day moving average of $64.01 and a 200-day moving average of $60.70. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.21 and a 12 month high of $99.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -55.64 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) 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 last year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Viking Therapeutics Company 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.