Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) Stock Price Expected to Rise, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Analyst Says

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) had its price objective hoisted by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 19.52% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on NCLH. Citigroup raised shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Norwegian Cruise Line from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays raised Norwegian Cruise Line from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $28.00 to $32.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on Norwegian Cruise Line from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Norwegian Cruise Line from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.27.

Norwegian Cruise Line Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NCLH opened at $25.10 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.35, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.17. Norwegian Cruise Line has a 1-year low of $14.69 and a 1-year high of $28.64. The company has a market capitalization of $11.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.03, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 2.65. The business has a 50-day moving average of $25.85 and a 200-day moving average of $20.89.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) 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 firm 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 business earned $0.71 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Norwegian Cruise Line will post 1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Andrea Demarco sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 22.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Faye L. Ashby sold 38,344 shares of Norwegian Cruise Line stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 116,270 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,174,171. This represents a 24.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 82,344 shares of company stock valued at $2,269,731 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Norwegian Cruise Line

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NCLH. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Norwegian Cruise Line by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,241,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $312,613,000 after buying an additional 621,793 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Norwegian Cruise Line by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,522,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,481,000 after acquiring an additional 261,925 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. bought a new position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line in the third quarter worth $179,146,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $85,835,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted 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 worth $79,263,000 after purchasing an additional 3,464,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.58% of the company’s stock.

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.