Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) Reaches New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $17.50 to $19.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an underweight rating on the stock. Norwegian Cruise Line traded as high as $26.15 and last traded at $26.14, with a volume of 3740840 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $23.84.

NCLH has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Macquarie upped their target price on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.73.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Norwegian Cruise Line

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $615,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 15,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Norwegian Cruise Line by 875.2% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 122,448 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,563,000 after acquiring an additional 109,892 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Norwegian Cruise Line by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,008,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,946,000 after acquiring an additional 212,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Norwegian Cruise Line by 69.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 651,472 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,241,000 after acquiring an additional 267,155 shares in the last quarter. 69.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Norwegian Cruise Line Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $11.12 billion, a PE ratio of 29.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 2.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $20.72 and its 200 day moving average is $18.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.19.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.05. Norwegian Cruise Line had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 105.44%. The company had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. will post 1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Norwegian Cruise Line

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.