Viking Holdings Ltd. $VIK Holdings Lifted by Merit Financial Group LLC

Key Points

• Merit Financial Group boosted its stake in Viking by 49.1% to 41,206 shares (about $2.94M) in Q4, and institutional investors now own 98.84% of the company.
• Wall Street has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy with an average price target of $78.50, and several brokers recently raised targets (e.g., UBS to $83, Stifel to $90).
• EVP Jeffrey Dash sold 46,369 shares at an average price of $80.23, trimming his position by about 9.9% while still holding 420,022 shares.

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Viking Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:VIK - Free Report) by 49.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,206 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 13,571 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Viking were worth $2,943,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Prosperity Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Viking during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,114,000. Parcion Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Viking during the fourth quarter valued at about $206,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Viking by 2,363.8% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 80,492 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,748,000 after buying an additional 77,225 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Viking by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 5,836 shares of the company's stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 2,534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sunpointe LLC bought a new position in Viking during the fourth quarter valued at about $457,000. Institutional investors own 98.84% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VIK. UBS Group raised their target price on Viking from $79.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Viking in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised Viking from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Viking from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Viking from $61.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $78.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking

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

Viking Price Performance

Shares of VIK opened at $86.10 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $38.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.90. Viking Holdings Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $36.99 and a fifty-two week high of $86.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.76, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business's 50-day moving average is $75.10 and its 200-day moving average is $69.51.

Viking (NYSE:VIK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter. Viking had a return on equity of 240.75% and a net margin of 17.65%. Equities research analysts expect that Viking Holdings Ltd. will post 3.32 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.

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