Traders Buy High Volume of Viking Put Options (NYSE:VIK)

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Viking

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VIK. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Viking by 342.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Viking by 1,591.2% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 1,989 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new stake in shares of Viking in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $225,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Viking during the third quarter valued at approximately $686,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Viking by 29.2% during the third quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. 98.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VIK. Truist Financial raised their price target on Viking from $59.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Viking in a research report on Monday. Barclays raised their target price on Viking from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Viking in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.13.

Viking Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VIK opened at $67.07 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $61.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.67. 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 firm has a market cap of $29.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.34, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 2.12. Viking has a 1 year low of $31.79 and a 1 year high of $68.60.

Viking (NYSE:VIK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 19th. The company reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.19 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.99 billion. Viking had a return on equity of 716.92% and a net margin of 15.53%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.89 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Viking will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.