Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) Shares Up 3.5%

Shares of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) rose 3.5% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $17.75 and last traded at $17.71. Approximately 2,416,012 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 12,746,389 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.11.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on NCLH. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Norwegian Cruise Line from $16.50 to $17.50 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Tigress Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Macquarie upped their price objective on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Norwegian Cruise Line from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.38.

Norwegian Cruise Line Stock Down 0.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.19, a current ratio of 0.24 and a quick ratio of 0.22. The company has a 50-day moving average of $17.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.91. The company has a market capitalization of $7.27 billion, a PE ratio of 24.21, a P/E/G ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 2.70.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 billion. Norwegian Cruise Line had a return on equity of 105.44% and a net margin of 4.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. will post 1.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Norwegian Cruise Line

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 15,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 1,281 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 875.2% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 122,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,563,000 after acquiring an additional 109,892 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 201,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,031,000 after acquiring an additional 10,174 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 58.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,105,324 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,240,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141,086 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in Norwegian Cruise Line during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $87,000. 69.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.