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

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by ($0.05), Zacks reports. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.25) earnings per share.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

VKTX stock traded up $1.13 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $33.50. The company had a trading volume of 4,811,262 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,741,170. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $23.11 and a 52 week high of $99.41. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $54.17. The company has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.02 and a beta of 0.90.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Piper Sandler began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $74.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of 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 research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, B. Riley initiated coverage on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, November 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $109.00 price target for the company. One investment 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $106.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Lawson Macartney sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, 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.