Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.02 EPS

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02, Briefing.com reports. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.23) EPS.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Up 21.2 %

VKTX traded up $12.83 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $73.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 16,322,708 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,350,632. The stock has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -78.73 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.66. Viking Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $8.28 and a twelve month high of $99.41.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VKTX shares. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $138.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,304,927 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $163,257,979.41. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director J Matthew Singleton sold 10,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $715,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,500 shares in the company, valued at $660,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 516,671 shares of company stock valued at $33,810,813 in the last 90 days. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by 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.