Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) to Release Quarterly Earnings on Wednesday

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) is scheduled to be announcing its earnings results after the market closes on Wednesday, April 24th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of ($0.27) per share for the quarter. Investors that are interested in participating in the company's conference call can do so using this link.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.25) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of ($0.25). During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.26) EPS. 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 Price Performance

Shares of VKTX traded down $1.80 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $64.67. 2,402,691 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,831,372. Viking Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $8.28 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $64.97 and a 200-day moving average of $32.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -70.29 and a beta of 1.05.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VKTX shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $32.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 23rd. BTIG Research raised their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $37.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other Viking Therapeutics news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total value of $691,500.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.87, for a total transaction of $7,230,152.73. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,184,882 shares of the company's stock, valued at $58,707,779.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 30,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total transaction of $691,500.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 359,079 shares of company stock valued at $9,461,153. Corporate insiders own 4.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Viking Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 237.9% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,894,923 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $111,767,000 after acquiring an additional 4,854,645 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,381,904 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $100,157,000 after purchasing an additional 97,552 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 2,039.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,280,944 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $87,928,000 after purchasing an additional 5,034,102 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Viking Global Investors LP now owns 5,145,112 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $95,751,000 after purchasing an additional 571,796 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 21,586.9% in the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,961,561 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $48,007,000 after purchasing an additional 2,947,905 shares in the last quarter. 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.