Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Group LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 75.0% during the second quarter. Retirement Group LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter worth approximately $63,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Maxim Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.25.

Insider Activity

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total transaction of $838,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,264,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,243,923.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total transaction of $838,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,264,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,243,923.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $701,250.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 329,079 shares of company stock valued at $8,769,653. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $63.42 on Monday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.28 and a 12 month high of $99.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $65.62 and a 200-day moving average of $33.59. The company has a market cap of $6.99 billion, a PE ratio of -68.93 and a beta of 1.05.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25). During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.26) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viking Therapeutics Company 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.