Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC Takes $302,000 Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 5,690 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $302,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 370.7% during the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 353 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. LifeSteps Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $37,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the second quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 140.8% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VKTX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Maxim Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of VKTX opened at $63.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -68.08 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.76. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.28 and a 12 month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.19) EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total transaction of $6,671,161.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 115,859 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.58, for a total transaction of $6,671,161.22. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $135,596,696.66. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 5,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.72, for a total transaction of $397,404.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $662,340. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by 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.