Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.06 EPS

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.26) by $0.06, Briefing.com reports. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.19) earnings per share.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of VKTX traded up $2.58 on Friday, reaching $67.26. 6,204,842 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,829,201. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -73.41 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $55.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.89. Viking Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $8.28 and a 12 month high of $99.41.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total transaction of $4,986,005.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 174,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,059,845.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 sale, 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, June 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $105.00 price objective for the company. Maxim Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.78.

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.