Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,405 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,062 shares during the quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,355,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VKTX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,157,000 after purchasing an additional 97,552 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $607,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at about $690,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,422,000. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $148,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. One 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX opened at $73.35 on Wednesday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.25 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The company has a market capitalization of $8.09 billion, a PE ratio of -78.87 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $63.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.67.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results 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 company earned ($0.23) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total value of $1,195,818.58. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $546,535. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total value of $1,195,818.58. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $546,535. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total value of $10,088,541.07. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 149,366 shares in the company, valued at $11,442,929.26. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 525,473 shares of company stock valued at $37,088,158 in the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Viking Therapeutics

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.