Viking (NYSE:VIK) Upgraded to Buy at Truist Financial

Viking (NYSE:VIK) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Truist Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a $102.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $75.00. Truist Financial’s target price points to a potential upside of 21.89% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Viking from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Viking from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Viking from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Viking in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Viking from $87.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.64.

Viking Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:VIK opened at $83.68 on Friday. Viking has a 12 month low of $42.20 and a 12 month high of $92.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.27. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.79. The firm has a market cap of $37.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.11, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.57.

Viking (NYSE:VIK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11). Viking had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 149.40%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.01 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.24) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Viking will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking news, EVP Jeffrey Dash sold 46,369 shares of Viking stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.23, for a total value of $3,720,184.87. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 420,022 shares in the company, valued at $33,698,365.06. The trade was a 9.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Viking by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,619,029 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,043,945,000 after buying an additional 570,672 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Viking by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 8,611,685 shares of the company’s stock valued at $614,960,000 after buying an additional 136,918 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Viking in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $372,297,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Viking by 316.8% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,426,297 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,082,000 after acquiring an additional 3,364,265 shares during the period. Finally, Dream Peak Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Viking in the 4th quarter valued at $223,744,000. 98.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.