Viking (NYSE:VIK) Receives “Outperform” Rating from BNP Paribas Exane

Viking (NYSE:VIK)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at BNP Paribas Exane in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $121.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $104.00. BNP Paribas Exane’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 22.66% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also commented on VIK. Barclays boosted their price objective on Viking from $88.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings cut Viking from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Viking in a report on Friday, May 15th. Truist Financial raised Viking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $75.00 to $102.00 in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Viking from $95.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.17.

Viking Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE VIK traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $98.65. 421,384 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,856,732. The stock has a market cap of $43.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.67, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.76. Viking has a 1-year low of $55.55 and a 1-year high of $105.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.27, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

Viking (NYSE:VIK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.11) EPS 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 company 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. On average, analysts expect that Viking will post 3.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Viking

In other news, EVP Richard Marnell sold 11,287 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.85, for a total value of $1,047,997.95. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 117,050 shares in the company, valued at $10,868,092.50. The trade was a 8.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,566 shares of company stock valued at $1,640,166.

Institutional Trading of Viking

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

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.