Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.23) earnings per share.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ VKTX opened at $73.22 on Friday. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $8.28 and a one year high of $99.41. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $63.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.74. The company has a market capitalization of $8.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -78.73 and a beta of 1.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on VKTX shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $108.60.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 362,149 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at $20,689,572.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

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.