Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Announces Earnings Results

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.25) earnings per share.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of VKTX traded up $0.91 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $65.98. 1,511,105 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,598,100. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $8.28 and a 52 week high of $99.41. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.33. The firm has a market cap of $7.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -70.73 and a beta of 1.05.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total value of $838,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,264,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,243,923.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total transaction of $838,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,264,882 shares in the company, valued at $54,243,923.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 329,079 shares of company stock valued at $8,769,653. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BTIG Research increased their target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Maxim Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $110.00 target price for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.25.

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.