Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes $24.89 Million Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 618,469 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,888,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.55% of Viking Therapeutics at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. S.A. Mason LLC boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wolff Wiese Magana LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $75,000. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 3.9 %

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $30.89 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.41 and a 52 week high of $89.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.89 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $32.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.25) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,994,228.50. This trade represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,150,709.75. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VKTX shares. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $38.00 price target on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target on the stock. Maxim Group dropped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eleven 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.67.

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.