Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Purchased by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 20.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 24,630 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,156 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 140.8% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 802 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on VKTX. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, December 2nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price objective on the stock. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. B. Riley started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price on the stock. 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 target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $660,250. This trade represents a 52.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 5.0 %

NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $47.85 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.75. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12-month low of $16.70 and a 12-month high of $99.41. The firm has a market cap of $5.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -51.45 and a beta of 0.89.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.23) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.97 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.