Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Buys 400 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the third quarter worth $26,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position 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. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 84.3% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 553 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total transaction of $10,088,541.07. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 149,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,442,929.26. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 11,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.89, for a total value of $889,790.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $768,455. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 131,687 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.61, for a total transaction of $10,088,541.07. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 149,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,442,929.26. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 525,473 shares of company stock worth $37,088,158. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VKTX stock opened at $74.56 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $8.31 billion, a P/E ratio of -78.36 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $64.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.81. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $9.34 and a one year high of $99.41.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on VKTX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.60.

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.