Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06, Briefing.com reports. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.19) earnings per share.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of VKTX traded up $14.27 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $64.68. The stock had a trading volume of 20,605,708 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,819,043. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -69.55 and a beta of 1.03. Viking Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $8.28 and a 1-year high of $99.41.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James increased their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. Maxim Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total value of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,413,639.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $4,986,005.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 174,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,059,845.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 281,425 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.66, for a total transaction of $22,136,890.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 348,508 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,413,639.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.