Financial Counselors Inc. Purchases 16,823 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) by 43.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 55,476 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 16,823 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $1,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in VKTX. FIL Ltd grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 116.8% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,203 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 648 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 170.2% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,351 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 79.4% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,938 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 858 shares in the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on VKTX shares. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $105.00 to $102.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Truist Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (down from $95.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.15.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ:VKTX traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $30.40. 5,622,333 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,058,564. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.43 and a beta of 0.62. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.92 and a twelve month high of $81.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.50 and a 200 day moving average of $29.53.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.31) by ($0.10). The business's revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.26) EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total value of $747,514.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,388,014 shares of the company's stock, valued at $66,386,789.20. The trade was a 1.11% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 4,266 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total transaction of $118,424.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,660 shares in the company, valued at $4,682,001.60. This trade represents a 2.47% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,421 shares of company stock valued at $984,405 in the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.