Brokers Issue Forecasts for VKTX Q1 Earnings

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX - Free Report) - Investment analysts at Leerink Partnrs issued their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report issued on Wednesday, February 5th. Leerink Partnrs analyst T. Smith forecasts that the biotechnology company will post earnings per share of ($0.35) for the quarter. The consensus estimate for Viking Therapeutics' current full-year earnings is ($1.41) per share. Leerink Partnrs also issued estimates for Viking Therapeutics' Q2 2025 earnings at ($0.41) EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at ($0.47) EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at ($0.50) EPS and FY2029 earnings at $5.24 EPS.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.25) EPS.

VKTX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Viking Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. Finally, B. Riley reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $96.00 target price (down previously from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $96.92.

Viking Therapeutics Trading Down 6.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:VKTX traded down $2.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $30.31. The company had a trading volume of 3,980,695 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,014,456. The company's 50-day moving average price is $40.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.92. Viking Therapeutics has a one year low of $29.82 and a one year high of $99.41. The firm has a market cap of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.26 and a beta of 0.90.

Insider Transactions at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $8,314,447.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,150,709.75. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. The trade was a 23.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock worth $12,782,849. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,052,176,000 after purchasing an additional 79,149 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd lifted its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% during the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $80,350,000 after acquiring an additional 452,344 shares during the period. Braidwell LP boosted its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $73,248,000 after acquiring an additional 50,072 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,004,033 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $63,565,000 after acquiring an additional 994,801 shares during the period. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $58,902,000 after purchasing an additional 143,675 shares during the last quarter. 76.03% of the stock is currently 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.