Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) Given Outperform Rating at Macquarie

Macquarie restated their outperform rating on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Macquarie currently has a $30.00 price target on the stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on NCLH. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Argus upgraded shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Citigroup raised Norwegian Cruise Line from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $20.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Norwegian Cruise Line from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Norwegian Cruise Line has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.27.

Norwegian Cruise Line Price Performance

NCLH opened at $27.20 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.35. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $26.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.07. Norwegian Cruise Line has a fifty-two week low of $14.69 and a fifty-two week high of $28.64. The firm has a market cap of $11.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 2.64.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Norwegian Cruise Line had a return on equity of 99.31% and a net margin of 5.87%. The business’s revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Norwegian Cruise Line will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Andrea Demarco sold 29,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total transaction of $805,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 97,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,701,159.04. This trade represents a 22.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Kempa sold 15,000 shares of Norwegian Cruise Line stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.86, for a total transaction of $417,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 253,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,059,333.96. This trade represents a 5.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 82,344 shares of company stock worth $2,269,731 over the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Norwegian Cruise Line

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NCLH. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 4.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,241,984 shares of the company’s stock valued at $312,613,000 after purchasing an additional 621,793 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Norwegian Cruise Line by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,522,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,481,000 after buying an additional 261,925 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new stake in Norwegian Cruise Line during the 3rd quarter worth about $179,146,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Norwegian Cruise Line by 32.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,568,122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,835,000 after buying an additional 1,129,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 864.9% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,864,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $79,263,000 after buying an additional 3,464,100 shares during the period. 69.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Norwegian Cruise Line Company Profile

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a cruise company in North America, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company operates through the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands. It offers itineraries ranging from three days to a 180-days calling on various ports, including Scandinavia, Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, the Greek Isles, Alaska, Canada and New England, Hawaii, Asia, Tahiti and the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand, Africa, India, South America, the Panama Canal, and the Caribbean.