Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Buys 31,011 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 43.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 102,324 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,011 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. owned about 0.09% of Viking Therapeutics worth $6,478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management boosted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 5.9% during the third quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 4,306 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $273,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 124.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 253 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 12,278 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 372 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on VKTX shares. HC Wainwright raised their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,455. The trade was a 53.66 % 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, CEO Brian Lian sold 112,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.80, for a total transaction of $7,426,846.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,354,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $154,954,196.60. The trade was a 4.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 506,687 shares of company stock worth $36,029,679. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $53.57 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $64.69 and its 200 day moving average is $61.60. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $10.34 and a twelve month high of $99.41.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.23) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 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.