Jefferies Financial Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Viking (NYSE:VIK) Stock

Viking (NYSE:VIK) had its price objective boosted by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $45.00 to $52.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 4.74% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on VIK. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Viking from $51.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Melius Research set a $51.00 price target on shares of Viking in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Loop Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Viking in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Viking from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Viking from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.33.

Viking Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VIK traded down $0.87 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $54.59. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,372,484 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,621,933. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.37, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 2.38. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.31. Viking has a fifty-two week low of $30.56 and a fifty-two week high of $56.73.

Viking (NYSE:VIK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.02. Viking had a negative return on equity of 128.44% and a net margin of 9.60%. The business had revenue of $897.06 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $841.18 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($1.21) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Viking will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Viking

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Viking in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $567,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Viking by 883.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,191,731 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,508,000 after acquiring an additional 1,070,589 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Viking by 22.7% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 55,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,454,000 after acquiring an additional 10,304 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Viking in the 4th quarter valued at $308,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Viking by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 37,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,656,000 after buying an additional 1,234 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.