Viking Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:VIK)

Viking Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:VIK) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 4,512 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 348% compared to the average daily volume of 1,007 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VIK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Viking from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Viking from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Mizuho set a $59.00 price target on shares of Viking in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Viking from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Viking in a research note on Monday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.13.

Institutional Trading of Viking

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of Viking by 43.2% during the 2nd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 15,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $800,000 after purchasing an additional 4,529 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Viking by 1,063.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 292,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,597,000 after buying an additional 267,521 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Viking during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,363,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Viking by 74.6% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,467,311 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,193,000 after acquiring an additional 626,973 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HMS Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Viking during the 2nd quarter worth about $257,000. Institutional investors own 98.84% of the company’s stock.

Viking Stock Performance

Shares of VIK traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $67.33. 354,006 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,909,993. Viking has a 12 month low of $31.79 and a 12 month high of $68.60. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $61.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.68, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 2.12.

Viking (NYSE:VIK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 19th. The company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.99 billion. Viking had a net margin of 15.53% and a return on equity of 716.92%. Viking’s quarterly revenue was up 19.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Viking will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

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.