Quaker Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Quaker Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 2,880 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $76,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VKTX. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at $9,283,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 59.2% during the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 597,515 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $14,430,000 after buying an additional 222,293 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 222.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 301,078 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,271,000 after buying an additional 207,784 shares during the period. Granahan Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 20.4% during the first quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 367,961 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,886,000 after buying an additional 62,375 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 67.5% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 144,349 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,486,000 after buying an additional 58,168 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

VKTX opened at $35.22 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $28.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.11. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.92 and a 1 year high of $79.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a PE ratio of -16.61 and a beta of 0.64.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.67) by ($0.14). During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.22) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on VKTX shares. Canaccord Genuity Group started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $106.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Viking Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 38,989 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.01, for a total value of $1,365,004.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,419,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $84,693,006.09. This trade represents a 1.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 6,185 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $216,475.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 173,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,075,720. This represents a 3.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 111,359 shares of company stock worth $3,932,155 in the last three months. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics 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.