Viking (NYSE:VIK) Raised to Strong-Buy at BMO Capital Markets

Viking (NYSE:VIK) was upgraded by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on VIK. Truist Financial raised Viking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $102.00 in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut Viking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, June 20th. Susquehanna raised their price target on Viking from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Barclays lifted their price target on Viking from $88.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Viking from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $79.00 to $109.00 in a research report on Monday, May 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $97.76.

Viking Price Performance

Shares of Viking stock opened at $98.17 on Tuesday. 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 has a 52-week low of $55.09 and a 52-week high of $105.76. The company has a fifty day moving average of $91.20 and a 200-day moving average of $80.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.48.

Viking (NYSE:VIK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.11) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. Viking had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 149.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.24) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Viking will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Viking

In other news, EVP Richard Marnell sold 6,120 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.30, for a total transaction of $577,116.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 110,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,460,699. This trade represents a 5.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Dash sold 46,369 shares of Viking stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $33,698,365.06. This trade represents a 9.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 63,935 shares of company stock valued at $5,360,351 in the last three months.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Viking by 92.0% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,440 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Viking during the 2nd quarter valued at about $303,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in Viking during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $922,000. State Street Corp increased its position in Viking by 34,748.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,812,120 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,568,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806,920 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC increased its holdings in shares of Viking by 275.0% in the 2nd quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 30,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,612,000 after buying an additional 22,188 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.84% of the company’s stock.

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.