Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.05 EPS

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05), Zacks reports. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.25) EPS.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 4.9 %

Shares of VKTX traded down $1.63 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $31.87. The stock had a trading volume of 3,690,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,729,000. The company has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.21 and a beta of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $54.17. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $23.81 and a 12 month high of $99.41.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on VKTX shares. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $106.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $8,314,447.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total transaction of $137,340.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 47,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,293,756.55. The trade was a 4.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 301,014 shares of company stock worth $12,920,189. 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.