Smith Group Asset Management LLC Takes Position in Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH)

Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 11,810 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $304,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NCLH. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 15,395 shares of the company's stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 784 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 69.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 54,199 shares of the company's stock worth $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 22,214 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in Norwegian Cruise Line by 48.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 17,789 shares of the company's stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 5,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Norwegian Cruise Line by 38.8% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,037 shares of the company's stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 849 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.58% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Argus raised Norwegian Cruise Line from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Macquarie reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup raised Norwegian Cruise Line from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. StockNews.com raised Norwegian Cruise Line from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays raised Norwegian Cruise Line from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $29.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Andrea Demarco sold 29,000 shares of the company'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 value of $805,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 97,304 shares in the company, valued at $2,701,159.04. This represents a 22.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Faye L. Ashby sold 38,344 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 116,270 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 82,344 shares of company stock valued at $2,269,731. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Norwegian Cruise Line Price Performance

NYSE NCLH traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $28.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,074,527 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,379,097. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 2.64. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. has a 1-year low of $14.69 and a 1-year high of $28.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.35, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.17. The company's 50-day moving average is $26.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.65.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.77 billion. Norwegian Cruise Line had a return on equity of 99.31% and a net margin of 5.87%. Norwegian Cruise Line's quarterly revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. will post 1.5 EPS for the current 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.