Raymond James Trust N.A. Invests $279,000 in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Raymond James Trust N.A. acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,410 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth about $327,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 11.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 61,417 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,037,000 after acquiring an additional 6,181 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $802,000. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,373,000. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 28,154.0% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 91,543 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,507,000 after purchasing an additional 91,219 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. B. Riley initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target on the stock. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.73.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,455. This represents a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX stock opened at $54.51 on Thursday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $11.55 and a 52 week high of $99.41. The company has a market capitalization of $6.07 billion, a PE ratio of -57.11 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.91.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.23) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current 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.