Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Wednesday

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) will post its quarterly earnings results after the market closes on Wednesday, April 24th. Analysts expect Viking Therapeutics to post earnings of ($0.27) per share for the quarter.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25). During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.26) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect Viking Therapeutics to post $-1 EPS for the current fiscal year and $-1 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock traded down $0.94 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $65.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,291,315 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,815,161. Viking Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $8.28 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of -70.76 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.68.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VKTX. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 9th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Maxim Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Finally, BTIG Research raised their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total transaction of $7,230,152.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,184,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,707,779.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total value of $701,250.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were 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 owns 2,184,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,707,779.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 359,079 shares of company stock worth $9,461,153. 4.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 237.9% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,894,923 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $111,767,000 after buying an additional 4,854,645 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $100,157,000 after buying an additional 97,552 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 2,039.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,280,944 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $87,928,000 after buying an additional 5,034,102 shares during the period. Viking Global Investors LP grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 5,145,112 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $95,751,000 after buying an additional 571,796 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 21,586.9% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,961,561 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,007,000 after purchasing an additional 2,947,905 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

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.