Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 514,087 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,182 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of Norwegian Cruise Line worth $10,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 85.5% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 31,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $653,000 after purchasing an additional 14,669 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 27.2% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 8,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 1,831 shares during the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 89.9% during the third quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC now owns 18,058 shares of the company’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 8,549 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 7.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 252,845 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,186,000 after purchasing an additional 16,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 7.0% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 905,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,571,000 after purchasing an additional 59,375 shares during the last quarter. 69.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on NCLH shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Norwegian Cruise Line from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Norwegian Cruise Line from $19.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Norwegian Cruise Line from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Norwegian Cruise Line from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $30.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.60.

Insider Activity at Norwegian Cruise Line

In related news, CAO Faye L. Ashby sold 38,344 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total value of $1,046,791.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 116,270 shares in the company, valued at $3,174,171. This represents a 24.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mark Kempa sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.86, for a total value of $417,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 253,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,059,333.96. This represents a 5.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 82,344 shares of company stock worth $2,269,731 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Norwegian Cruise Line Price Performance

Shares of NCLH stock opened at $26.42 on Monday. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $14.13 and a fifty-two week high of $28.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 2.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.35, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a current ratio of 0.20. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.19.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.81 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. will post 1.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.