Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Issues Earnings Results

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.25) earnings per share.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX opened at $74.31 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $68.35 and a 200 day moving average of $34.79. Viking Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $8.28 and a 52-week high of $99.41.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VKTX has been the topic of a number of research reports. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.25.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In related news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total value of $7,230,152.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,184,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,707,779.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $701,250.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 329,079 shares of company stock worth $8,769,653 in the last quarter. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.