Viking (NYSE:VIK) Hits New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Viking Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:VIK) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. The Goldman Sachs Group now has a $78.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $66.00. Viking traded as high as $68.91 and last traded at $68.4790, with a volume of 607057 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $66.68.

VIK has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Viking from $56.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Viking from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Viking from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Wall Street Zen cut Viking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Viking from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.69.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in VIK. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Viking in the second quarter worth $3,363,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Viking by 43.2% in the 2nd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $800,000 after purchasing an additional 4,529 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Viking by 1,063.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 292,676 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,597,000 after buying an additional 267,521 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Viking by 74.6% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,467,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,193,000 after buying an additional 626,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Viking by 400.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,577,113 shares of the company’s stock valued at $563,654,000 after buying an additional 8,462,947 shares in the last quarter. 98.84% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viking Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.68. The company has a market capitalization of $30.06 billion, a PE ratio of 31.70, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 2.12. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.20.

Viking (NYSE:VIK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 19th. The company reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.99 billion. Viking had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 716.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Viking Holdings Ltd. will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Viking Company Profile

Viking Holdings Ltd engages in the passenger shipping and other forms of passenger transport in North America, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through River and Ocean segments. The company also operates as a tour entrepreneur for passengers and related activities in tourism. As of December 31, 2023, it operated a fleet of 92 ships, including 81 river vessels comprising 58 Longships, 10 smaller classes based on the Longship design, 11 other river vessels, and 1 river vessel charter and the Viking Mississippi; 9 ocean ships; and 2 expedition ships.