Crewe Advisors LLC Invests $1.04 Million in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 16,366 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,036,000.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VKTX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, September 12th. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $90.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Finally, B. Riley initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.73.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

VKTX opened at $52.59 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.55 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $63.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.55 and a beta of 1.00.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.23) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Viking Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at $163,257,979.41. This represents a 8.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total transaction of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,455. The trade was a 53.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 371,117 shares of company stock worth $27,140,009 over the last ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.