FY2024 EPS Estimates for Viking Therapeutics, Inc. Raised by Analyst (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) – Leerink Partnrs increased their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Viking Therapeutics in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, July 24th. Leerink Partnrs analyst T. Smith now expects that the biotechnology company will earn ($0.94) per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of ($0.97). The consensus estimate for Viking Therapeutics’ current full-year earnings is ($1.01) per share. Leerink Partnrs also issued estimates for Viking Therapeutics’ FY2025 earnings at ($1.66) EPS, FY2026 earnings at ($2.44) EPS, FY2027 earnings at ($3.75) EPS and FY2028 earnings at ($1.33) EPS.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.06. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.19) earnings per share.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on VKTX. Raymond James raised their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, June 17th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Maxim Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $111.78.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Down 7.7 %

NASDAQ VKTX opened at $56.52 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $55.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.23. Viking Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $8.28 and a 52 week high of $99.41. The company has a market capitalization of $6.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -60.77 and a beta of 1.03.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,785,724 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $638,429,000 after purchasing an additional 2,403,820 shares during the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $294,380,000. Wasatch Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 1,274,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $23,727,000 after purchasing an additional 311,681 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 88.3% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,119,885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $20,841,000 after purchasing an additional 525,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $78,586,000. 76.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Viking Therapeutics news, insider Zante Greg 16,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Viking Therapeutics news, insider Zante Greg 16,136 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 66,756 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.69, for a total value of $4,986,005.64. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 174,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,059,845.26. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.70% of the stock is currently 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.