Prospera Financial Services Inc Invests $298,000 in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Prospera Financial Services Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,707 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $52.59 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $63.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.25. The company has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a PE ratio of -56.55 and a beta of 1.00. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.55 and a 1-year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.23) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the 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 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 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 8.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on VKTX. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. B. Riley initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $109.73.

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.