Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

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

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

VKTX stock traded up $2.17 during trading on Thursday, hitting $67.24. 2,075,527 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,607,273. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.41 billion, a PE ratio of -73.18 and a beta of 1.05. Viking Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $8.28 and a 1 year high of $99.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $66.95 and a 200-day moving average of $34.33.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on VKTX shares. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. BTIG Research lifted 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. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $110.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, March 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.25.

Insider Activity at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total value of $838,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,264,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,243,923.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 35,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.95, for a total transaction of $838,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,264,882 shares in the company, valued at $54,243,923.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were 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 329,079 shares of company stock worth $8,769,653 in the last ninety days. 4.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.