Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

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

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of VKTX traded up $12.83 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $73.22. 16,322,708 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,350,632. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.92 and its 200 day moving average is $61.66. Viking Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $8.28 and a 1-year high of $99.41. The stock has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -78.73 and a beta of 1.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VKTX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 20,786 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.53, for a total transaction of $1,195,818.58. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $546,535. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813 over the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.