Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.28) by ($0.04), Zacks reports.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of VKTX stock traded up $1.13 on Wednesday, reaching $33.50. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,360,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,685,165. Viking Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $23.11 and a 1 year high of $99.41. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.32. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.02 and a beta of 0.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.67, for a total value of $137,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 47,965 shares in the company, valued at $3,293,756.55. This trade represents a 4.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $2,317,691.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 301,014 shares of company stock worth $12,920,189 over the last quarter. Insiders own 4.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on VKTX shares. B. Riley initiated coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 target price for the company. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.75.

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.