Viking (NYSE:VIK) Reaches New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Viking Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:VIK) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $71.46 and last traded at $71.1520, with a volume of 1348960 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $68.75.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on VIK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Viking from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Viking from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Viking from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $78.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Viking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Viking from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.00.

Viking Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.68, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $62.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.72. The company has a market cap of $31.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 2.12.

Viking (NYSE:VIK) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The company reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.01. Viking had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 716.92%. The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Viking Holdings Ltd. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VIK. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its stake in shares of Viking by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 18,656,810 shares of the company’s stock worth $741,608,000 after acquiring an additional 1,376,899 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Viking by 32.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 14,048,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $873,246,000 after purchasing an additional 3,471,244 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Viking by 6.4% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,828,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $350,922,000 after purchasing an additional 528,843 shares in 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 purchasing an additional 6,715,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Viking by 80.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,117,783 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,601,000 after buying an additional 3,615,969 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 98.84% of the company’s stock.

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.