Vestcor Inc Purchases Shares of 11,700 Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Vestcor Inc purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 11,700 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $741,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VKTX. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth about $354,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 45,252 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,865,000 after purchasing an additional 5,155 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 193.1% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 20,352 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,288,000 after purchasing an additional 13,409 shares during the period. Pier Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 55.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pier Capital LLC now owns 89,147 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $5,644,000 after purchasing an additional 31,908 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $492,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the transaction, 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on VKTX. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an "overweight" rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $106.75.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX stock traded down $0.84 on Friday, hitting $47.03. 3,244,605 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,438,160. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $17.23 and a twelve month high of $99.41. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $59.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a PE ratio of -50.57 and a beta of 0.88.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 EPS 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.