William Blair Brokers Reduce Earnings Estimates for VKTX

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VKTX) – Analysts at William Blair reduced their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for Viking Therapeutics in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, February 5th. William Blair analyst A. Hsieh now forecasts that the biotechnology company will post earnings of ($0.34) per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of ($0.28). William Blair currently has a “Outperform” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Viking Therapeutics’ current full-year earnings is ($1.41) per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Viking Therapeutics’ Q2 2025 earnings at ($0.36) EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at ($0.39) EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at ($0.41) EPS, FY2025 earnings at ($1.51) EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at ($0.44) EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at ($0.46) EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at ($0.47) EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at ($0.47) EPS and FY2026 earnings at ($1.84) EPS.

VKTX has been the topic of several other research reports. StockNews.com raised Viking Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Viking Therapeutics from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $96.00 target price (down from $109.00) on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a report on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Viking Therapeutics from $122.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Viking Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Viking Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.92.

Viking Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Viking Therapeutics stock opened at $29.96 on Monday. Viking Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $29.08 and a 1 year high of $99.41. The stock has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.96 and a beta of 0.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $39.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.42.

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 firm posted ($0.25) earnings per share.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC grew its stake in Viking Therapeutics by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,619,430 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,052,176,000 after acquiring an additional 79,149 shares in the last quarter. Braidwell LP grew its position in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 4.5% in the third quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,156,977 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $73,248,000 after purchasing an additional 50,072 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $63,565,000 after purchasing an additional 994,801 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its holdings in shares of Viking Therapeutics by 18.3% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 930,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,902,000 after purchasing an additional 143,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Viking Therapeutics by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 728,652 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,321,000 after buying an additional 13,055 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Brian Lian sold 194,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.75, for a total transaction of $8,314,447.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,366,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $101,170,867.50. This trade represents a 7.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Greg Zante sold 50,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 165,259 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,064,822.25. This represents a 23.34 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 299,014 shares of company stock valued at $12,782,849. 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.