Viking (NYSE:VIK) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Viking from "hold" to "buy"; overall analyst mix shows 11 Buys, 3 Holds and 2 Sells with an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $78.50.
• VIK opened at $86.10 (near its 12‑month high of $86.38) and trades with a $38.37 billion market cap and a P/E of 33.5; last quarter the company reported $0.67 EPS, $1.72 billion revenue, a 240.75% ROE and a 17.65% net margin.
• Insider selling: EVP Jeffrey Dash sold 46,369 shares (~$3.72M) on April 14, while institutional investors own 98.84% of the stock and several large funds materially increased positions recently.

Viking (NYSE:VIK - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on VIK. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $95.00 target price on Viking and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Viking in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Viking from $75.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Mizuho raised their target price on Viking from $59.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Viking from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $78.50.

Viking Stock Performance

VIK stock opened at $86.10 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.76. The firm has a market cap of $38.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.90. Viking has a 12-month low of $36.99 and a 12-month high of $86.38. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $75.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.51.

Viking (NYSE:VIK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Viking will post 3.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking

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

Institutional Trading of Viking

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Invesco Ltd. lifted 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 worth $1,043,945,000 after acquiring an additional 570,672 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted 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 worth $614,960,000 after acquiring an additional 136,918 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Viking by 80.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,117,783 shares of the company's stock worth $504,601,000 after acquiring an additional 3,615,969 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Viking in the 4th quarter worth approximately $372,297,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Viking by 316.8% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,426,297 shares of the company's stock worth $316,082,000 after acquiring an additional 3,364,265 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.84% of the company's stock.

About Viking

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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