Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Takes Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 370.7% in the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 353 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. LifeSteps Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on VKTX. Maxim Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. 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 research report on Thursday, July 25th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $111.78.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at $20,689,572.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,689,572.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Zante Greg 16,136 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The disclosure for this trade can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 3.2 %

NASDAQ VKTX traded down $1.68 on Wednesday, reaching $51.65. 661,865 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,772,434. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.38. The company has a market cap of $5.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.76 and a beta of 1.03. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.28 and a 12 month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 period last year, the company posted ($0.19) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.