Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $25.96, but opened at $26.74. Norwegian Cruise Line shares last traded at $26.43, with a volume of 1,965,599 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on NCLH shares. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Norwegian Cruise Line from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $19.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup upgraded Norwegian Cruise Line from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Stifel Nicolaus raised 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. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.67.

Norwegian Cruise Line Trading Up 4.1 %

The company has a market capitalization of $11.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.78, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 2.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $25.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.35.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) last announced 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. Norwegian Cruise Line had a net margin of 5.87% and a return on equity of 99.31%. The company had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. will post 1.51 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Faye L. Ashby sold 38,344 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total transaction of $1,046,791.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 116,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,174,171. This trade represents a 24.80 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrea Demarco sold 29,000 shares of Norwegian Cruise Line stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total transaction of $805,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 97,304 shares in the company, valued at $2,701,159.04. This trade represents a 22.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 82,344 shares of company stock worth $2,269,731 over the last ninety days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Norwegian Cruise Line

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 192.3% in the 3rd quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Norwegian Cruise Line by 34.1% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Norwegian Cruise Line in the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 489.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. 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.