Viking Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: VKTX) stock fell -1.53% on Friday to $14.77 against a previous-day closing price of $15.00. With 6.22 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained heavier than its average volume of 2.28 million shares. During the session, the Biotechnology company that operates in wider Healthcare sector, reached to the highest price of $15.41 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $14.58. The 52-week range on VKTX shows that it touched its highest point at $25.72 and its lowest point at $2.53 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $33.80. Beta for the stock currently stands at 0.52.
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Price Performance and Earnings:
Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of VKTX was down-trending over the past week, with a drop of -7.05%, but this was up by 4.01% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -34.24% while six-month performance rose 35.01%. The stock gained 360.12% in the past year, while it has gained 57.13% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for VKTX yields -0.91 with Next year EPS estimates of -1.02. For the next quarter, that number is -0.22. This implies an EPS growth rate of -25.80% for this year and -13.30% for next year. EPS is expected to grow by 40.00% annually over the next five years; however, over the past five years, the company experienced an annual growth rate of -2.50%.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 99.01 million VKTX shares are outstanding with a float of 93.71 million shares on hand for trading. On Aug 30, 2023, short shares totaled 12.91 million, which was 12.91% higher than short shares on Jul 30, 2023. In addition to Dr. Brian Lian Ph.D. as the firm’s Pres, CEO & Director, Mr. Gregory S. Zante serves as its Chief Financial Officer.
Institutional Ownership:
Through their ownership of 68.75% of VKTX’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 9.81% of VKTX, in contrast to 36.89% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 35.98%. As the largest shareholder in VKTX with 14.91% of the stake, Fidelity Management & Research Co holds 14,912,560 shares worth 14,912,560. A second-largest stockholder of VKTX, BlackRock Fund Advisors, holds 5,656,088 shares, controlling over 5.65% of the firm’s shares. The Vanguard Group, Inc. is the third largest shareholder in VKTX, holding 4,851,813 shares or 4.85% stake. With a 3.31% stake in VKTX, the Fidelity Growth Company Fund is the largest stakeholder. A total of 3,306,722 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF, which owns about 2.95% of VKTX stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 2,954,932 shares valued at 40.81 million. Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF holds 2.77% of the stake in VKTX, owning 2,769,934 shares worth 38.25 million.
An Overview of Recent Financials:
Understanding a company as a customer does not mean you will understand it as an investor. The wise investor uses quantitative research to analyze metrics such as revenue, net income, and earnings. In its fiscal quarter reported on Jun 29, 2023, VKTX reported revenue of $0.00 and operating income of -$17.63M. The EBITDA in the recently reported quarter was -$17.59M and diluted EPS was -$0.23.
Analysts Ratings:
Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for VKTX since 0 analysts follow the stock currently. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With VKTX analysts setting a high price target of $40.00 and a low target of $28.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $33.80. Based on these targets, VKTX could surge 170.82% to reach the target high and rise by 89.57% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 128.84% from current levels.
EPS: Estimates vs Actual
It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded VKTX stock several times over the past three months with 0 Buys and 0 Sells. In these transactions, 0 shares were bought while 0 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 43 while that of sell transactions has risen to 34 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 1,963,236 while 1,764,159 shares were sold.
