F M Investments LLC Purchases 6,933 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

F M Investments LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 17.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 47,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 6,933 shares during the quarter. F M Investments LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $3,024,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of VKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,157,000 after buying an additional 97,552 shares in the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,251,000. Oak Ridge Investments LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $837,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 70.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,518 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 43.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 441,590 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $27,957,000 after purchasing an additional 133,144 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $72.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -78.36 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.86. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $9.34 and a 1 year high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total value of $7,426,846.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,954,196.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total value of $7,426,846.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,954,196.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total transaction of $10,088,541.07. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 149,366 shares in the company, valued at $11,442,929.26. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 525,473 shares of company stock worth $37,088,158. 4.70% of the stock is 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.