Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.27.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NCLH shares. StockNews.com upgraded Norwegian Cruise Line from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Norwegian Cruise Line from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Bank of America raised their target price on Norwegian Cruise Line from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $24.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Norwegian Cruise Line Stock Performance

Shares of NCLH opened at $26.42 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.62 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 2.65. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $26.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $21.19. Norwegian Cruise Line has a 52 week low of $14.69 and a 52 week high of $28.64.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. Norwegian Cruise Line had a net margin of 5.87% and a return on equity of 99.31%. Norwegian Cruise Line’s revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. Research analysts expect that Norwegian Cruise Line will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Norwegian Cruise Line

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 value of $805,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 97,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,701,159.04. This trade represents a 22.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Kempa sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.86, for a total value of $417,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 sold 82,344 shares of company stock valued at $2,269,731 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NCLH. Baillie Gifford & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line during the 3rd quarter valued at $179,146,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in 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 valued at $79,263,000 after purchasing an additional 3,464,100 shares during the last quarter. Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in Norwegian Cruise Line in the second quarter valued at about $23,479,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings 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 worth $85,835,000 after buying an additional 1,129,770 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line during the 2nd quarter worth about $15,213,000. 69.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.