William Blair Equities Analysts Increase Earnings Estimates for Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX)

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) – William Blair lifted their Q2 2024 earnings estimates for Viking Therapeutics in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, April 24th. William Blair analyst A. Hsieh now anticipates that the biotechnology company will post earnings of ($0.17) per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of ($0.28). William Blair has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Viking Therapeutics’ current full-year earnings is ($1.05) per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Viking Therapeutics’ Q3 2024 earnings at ($0.20) EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at ($0.21) EPS, FY2024 earnings at ($0.85) EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at ($0.23) EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at ($0.23) EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at ($0.25) EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at ($0.25) EPS, FY2025 earnings at ($0.96) EPS and FY2026 earnings at ($1.12) EPS.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on VKTX. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Raymond James lifted 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. Maxim Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, March 15th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.25.

Viking Therapeutics Stock Performance

Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $79.58 on Monday. Viking Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $8.28 and a fifty-two week high of $99.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $69.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.01. The company has a market capitalization of $8.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -85.57 and a beta of 1.05.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.01. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.25) EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VKTX. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 63.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 560,180 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,201,000 after buying an additional 217,827 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 1,557.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 371,604 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,916,000 after purchasing an additional 349,186 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 100.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 137,583 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,560,000 after purchasing an additional 68,921 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 3.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,284,352 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,498,000 after purchasing an additional 171,995 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Viking Therapeutics by 924.4% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 82,099 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 74,085 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking Therapeutics

In other news, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 269,079 shares of Viking Therapeutics stock in a transaction on 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 owns 2,184,882 shares in the company, valued at approximately $58,707,779.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Sarah Kathryn Rouan sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.05, for a total transaction of $701,250.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.70% of the stock is 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.