Macquarie Reaffirms Outperform Rating for Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH)

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "outperform" rating reissued by analysts at Macquarie in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $30.00 price objective on the stock. Macquarie's price target indicates a potential upside of 10.31% from the stock's current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on NCLH. StockNews.com upgraded Norwegian Cruise Line from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Norwegian Cruise Line from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $19.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Tigress Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Norwegian Cruise Line has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $29.27.

Norwegian Cruise Line Stock Up 2.9 %

NYSE:NCLH traded up $0.76 on Friday, reaching $27.20. The stock had a trading volume of 9,162,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,033,445. Norwegian Cruise Line has a 12-month low of $14.69 and a 12-month high of $28.64. The stock has a market cap of $11.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 2.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $26.51 and a 200 day moving average of $22.14.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.05. Norwegian Cruise Line had a return on equity of 99.31% and a net margin of 5.87%. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Norwegian Cruise Line's quarterly revenue was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Norwegian Cruise Line will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Norwegian Cruise Line

In related news, insider Andrea Demarco sold 29,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total transaction of $805,040.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 97,304 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,701,159.04. The trade was a 22.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Faye L. Ashby sold 38,344 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total value of $1,046,791.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 116,270 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,174,171. The trade was a 24.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 82,344 shares of company stock valued at $2,269,731. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Norwegian Cruise Line

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NCLH. Baillie Gifford & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line during the third quarter valued at $179,146,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Norwegian Cruise Line by 864.9% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,864,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $79,263,000 after buying an additional 3,464,100 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new stake in Norwegian Cruise Line during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,956,000. Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line in the second quarter worth about $23,479,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 32.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,568,122 shares of the company's stock worth $85,835,000 after acquiring an additional 1,129,770 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.58% of the company's stock.

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.