Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,719 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $235,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Oak Ridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $837,000. Nvwm LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $999,000. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 88.0% during the third quarter. Chartwell Investment Partners LLC now owns 36,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,322,000 after purchasing an additional 17,159 shares during the period. Nepsis Inc. purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $11,251,000. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $18,443,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VKTX shares. Raymond James increased their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One equities 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.80.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 7.4 %

VKTX opened at $49.58 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -53.31 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $64.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.19. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $10.34 and a 52 week high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.23) EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $69,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $164,609,397.30. This trade represents a 0.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 5,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.72, for a total value of $397,404.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $662,340. The trade was a 37.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 377,817 shares of company stock valued at $27,607,313. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.