Mirabella Financial Services LLP Acquires 1,393 Shares of Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Mirabella Financial Services LLP lifted its holdings in Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) by 21.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,839 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,393 shares during the period. Mirabella Financial Services LLP’s holdings in Viking Therapeutics were worth $496,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VKTX. Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 5,050 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 828 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 143,675 shares during the period. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,036,000. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in Viking Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $884,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 13.7% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 129,345 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,189,000 after buying an additional 15,557 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $715,850.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $660,250. This trade represents a 52.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares in the company, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 8.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 371,117 shares of company stock valued at $27,140,009. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $51.99 on Tuesday. Viking Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.55 and a 1 year high of $99.41. The stock has a market cap of $5.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -55.90 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $63.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.05.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VKTX shares. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. B. Riley initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $109.73.

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.