HighTower Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Viking Holdings Ltd. $VIK

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Viking Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:VIK) by 858.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 46,051 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 41,246 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Viking were worth $3,288,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in Viking during the fourth quarter valued at about $214,000. Dougherty & Associates LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking during the fourth quarter valued at about $604,000. North Dakota State Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Viking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $438,000. Hiddenite Capital Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Viking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,213,000. Finally, Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking in the fourth quarter worth approximately $258,000. 98.84% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Viking Price Performance

VIK stock opened at $92.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $80.00 and its 200 day moving average is $73.98. Viking Holdings Ltd. has a 52 week low of $44.01 and a 52 week high of $93.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.27, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Viking (NYSE:VIK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.11) earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.24) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Viking Holdings Ltd. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking

In other news, EVP Jeffrey Dash sold 46,369 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 420,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,698,365.06. The trade was a 9.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on VIK. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Viking from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Viking in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Viking in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Viking from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $79.00 to $109.00 in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Viking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.86.

Viking 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.