Research Analysts Issue Forecasts for VKTX FY2024 Earnings

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at HC Wainwright lifted their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report issued on Thursday, October 24th. HC Wainwright analyst J. Pantginis now forecasts that the biotechnology company will post earnings per share of ($0.94) for the year, up from their prior forecast of ($0.95). HC Wainwright currently has a "Buy" rating and a $90.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Viking Therapeutics' current full-year earnings is ($0.98) per share. HC Wainwright also issued estimates for Viking Therapeutics' Q4 2024 earnings at ($0.24) EPS.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The biotechnology company reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.24) by $0.02. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.23) earnings per share.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on VKTX. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $138.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $108.60.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 4.5 %

NASDAQ:VKTX traded down $3.51 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $74.52. 6,213,968 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,383,638. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.64. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $9.25 and a one year high of $99.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -80.13 and a beta of 1.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 362,149 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Viking Therapeutics news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 18,026 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.13, for a total transaction of $1,029,825.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 362,149 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,689,572.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 216,130 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total value of $15,308,487.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,304,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $163,257,979.41. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 527,671 shares of company stock worth $34,700,603. 4.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $100,157,000 after buying an additional 97,552 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $607,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at $4,775,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at $690,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth about $1,422,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.