Short Interest in Viking Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:VIK) Grows By 27.8%

Viking Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:VIK) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 6,377,773 shares, a growth of 27.8% from the February 26th total of 4,991,988 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,450,119 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Viking

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Viking by 400.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,577,113 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,654,000 after buying an additional 8,462,947 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Viking by 381.8% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 8,474,767 shares of the company’s stock valued at $526,792,000 after acquiring an additional 6,715,666 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Viking during the fourth quarter worth about $372,297,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Viking by 80.3% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Viking by 316.8% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.84% of the company’s stock.

Viking Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:VIK opened at $73.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $73.41 and a 200-day moving average of $67.84. Viking has a 12 month low of $31.79 and a 12 month high of $81.48. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $32.70 billion, a PE ratio of 28.55, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.96.

Viking (NYSE:VIK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Viking had a net margin of 17.65% and a return on equity of 240.75%. The business had revenue of $1.72 billion for the quarter. On average, equities research analysts predict that Viking will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Viking from $85.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Viking from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Viking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Viking from $63.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Viking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Viking presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.21.

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.