Independent Advisor Alliance Has $279,000 Holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Independent Advisor Alliance grew its position in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 37.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,940 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,890 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stone House Investment Management LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 66.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 75.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 1,745 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $110,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, S.A. Mason LLC increased its position in Viking Therapeutics by 20.0% in the 4th quarter. S.A. Mason LLC now owns 1,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX opened at $29.46 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.17. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $24.41 and a twelve month high of $89.10. The company has a market cap of $3.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.46 and a beta of 0.90.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Scotiabank initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They set a “sector outperform” rating and a $102.00 price objective on the stock. Maxim Group lowered their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $120.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $97.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This trade represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. 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 that occurred on 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 owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. 4.70% 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.