Wealth Management Associates Inc. Buys Shares of 9,975 Viking Therapeutics, Inc. $VKTX

Key Points

• Wealth Management Associates Inc. has acquired 9,975 shares of Viking Therapeutics, valued at approximately $241,000, as disclosed in their recent SEC filing.
• Viking Therapeutics reported a loss of ($0.58) earnings per share for the quarter, falling short of the consensus estimate, with analysts projecting an earnings per share of -1.56 for the current fiscal year.
• Insider trading disclosures reveal that CEO Brian Lian sold 26,889 shares for over $747,000, decreasing his ownership in the company while still holding 2.38 million shares.

Wealth Management Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,975 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 121.5% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 29,721 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $718,000 after acquiring an additional 16,302 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 9,209.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 24,392 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $589,000 after purchasing an additional 24,130 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $429,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $220,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 64.8% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James Financial dropped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a "strong-buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $87.50.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $24.06. 2,178,547 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,788,584. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.92 and a 52 week high of $81.73. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $30.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.17. The company has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.74 and a beta of 0.73.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.44) by ($0.14). The firm's revenue was up NaN% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.20) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.