Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $33.50, but opened at $31.02. Viking Therapeutics shares last traded at $31.68, with a volume of 1,470,441 shares traded.

The biotechnology company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by ($0.05). During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.25) earnings per share.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on VKTX. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $107.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Marianna Mancini sold 54,215 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total value of $2,317,691.25. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 374,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,994,228.50. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the firm’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 $8,314,447.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $101,170,867.50. This represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849 in the last three months. 4.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking Therapeutics

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 10,775.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viking Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $24,888,000. Perpetual Ltd raised its position in Viking Therapeutics by 55.4% in the 3rd quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 1,269,152 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,350,000 after purchasing an additional 452,344 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Viking Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth $18,443,000. Finally, Eventide Asset Management LLC grew its position in Viking Therapeutics by 79.1% during the 3rd quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 452,969 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,677,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.83 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.01.

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.