KBC Group NV Increases Stake in Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH)

KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) by 15.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,946 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,559 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Norwegian Cruise Line were worth $245,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of NCLH. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 2.1% during the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 24,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $509,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Norwegian Cruise Line by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 44,757 shares of the company’s stock worth $918,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in Norwegian Cruise Line by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 45,603 shares of the company’s stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 5.6% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 13,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 705 shares during the period. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 5.8% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.58% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Faye L. Ashby sold 38,344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was 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 directly owns 116,270 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,174,171. The trade was a 24.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Kempa sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.86, for a total value of $417,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 253,386 shares in the company, valued at $7,059,333.96. The trade was a 5.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 82,344 shares of company stock worth $2,269,731 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Norwegian Cruise Line Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NCLH stock opened at $26.34 on Wednesday. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. has a 1-year low of $14.13 and a 1-year high of $28.11. The company has a market cap of $11.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.17, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 2.67. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.34.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. will post 1.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on NCLH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Norwegian Cruise Line from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $19.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Norwegian Cruise Line currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.60.

Norwegian Cruise Line 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.