Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Sold by AlphaCentric Advisors LLC

AlphaCentric Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 78.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 13,000 shares during the quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James raised their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.80.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $546,535. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 1,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.90, for a total value of $69,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $164,609,397.30. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 525,473 shares of company stock worth $37,088,158 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $63.14 on Tuesday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.34 and a twelve month high of $99.41. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $64.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.78.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, equities analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.