Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes $24.89 Million Position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 618,469 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,888,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Eventide Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% during the 3rd quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $28,677,000 after acquiring an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,902,000 after acquiring an additional 143,675 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 29.9% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 593,528 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $37,576,000 after acquiring an additional 136,729 shares during the last quarter. Sphera Funds Management LTD. bought a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $8,424,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 218.2% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 158,349 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $10,025,000 after acquiring an additional 108,581 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $30.89 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $32.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.73. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.41 and a 12 month high of $89.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.89 and a beta of 0.90.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.25) earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on VKTX shares. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Maxim Group lowered their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $97.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % 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, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849 over the last quarter. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

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.