Viking Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:VIK) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Brokerages

Shares of Viking Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:VIK) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, sixteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $106.83.

VIK has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Viking in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Benchmark raised shares of Viking to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 25th. BNP Paribas Exane reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $121.00 price objective (up from $104.00) on shares of Viking in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Viking from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Viking from $102.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 24th.

Viking Stock Performance

VIK stock opened at $84.07 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.64. Viking has a 52 week low of $56.37 and a 52 week high of $110.09. The stock has a market cap of $37.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.61, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Viking (NYSE:VIK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 20th. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.05. Viking had a net margin of 19.33% and a return on equity of 117.98%. The firm had revenue of $2.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.99 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Viking will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Viking news, EVP Milton Hugh sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.57, for a total value of $1,711,400.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 585,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,107,310.47. This represents a 3.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in VIK. New England Research & Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Viking in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,226,000. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its holdings in Viking by 229.5% in the third quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 1,949,815 shares of the company’s stock worth $152,729,000 after buying an additional 1,358,007 shares during the last quarter. Ninety One SA Pty Ltd bought a new position in Viking during the third quarter valued at approximately $110,000. Ninety One North America Inc. bought a new position in Viking during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,628,000. Finally, Curated Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Viking during the third quarter valued at approximately $690,000. 98.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Viking

Viking Holdings Ltd., operating under the Viking brand, is a global travel and cruise company that provides destination-focused voyages for culturally curious travelers. The company offers river, ocean and expedition cruises, combining onboard accommodations and dining with shore excursions, cultural programming and other destination-based experiences.

Viking’s river cruises operate on waterways in Europe, including the Rhine, Danube, Seine, Rhône and Douro, as well as in other regions such as Asia, Egypt and the United States.