Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) Stock Price

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) had its price target hoisted by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $19.00 to $26.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential downside of 6.54% from the stock’s current price.

NCLH has been the subject of a number of other reports. Bank of America increased their price target on Norwegian Cruise Line from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Norwegian Cruise Line from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.20.

Norwegian Cruise Line Price Performance

Norwegian Cruise Line stock opened at $27.82 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.35. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $21.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.95. Norwegian Cruise Line has a 12-month low of $12.87 and a 12-month high of $27.93. The stock has a market cap of $12.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.52, a PEG ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 2.67.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. Norwegian Cruise Line had a net margin of 5.87% and a return on equity of 99.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Norwegian Cruise Line will post 1.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Mark Kempa sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.86, for a total transaction of $417,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 253,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,059,333.96. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Mark Kempa sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.86, for a total transaction of $417,900.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 253,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,059,333.96. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 the company’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 value 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 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 82,344 shares of company stock worth $2,269,731. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Norwegian Cruise Line

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NCLH. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Norwegian Cruise Line by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,539,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,036,870,000 after buying an additional 324,287 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Norwegian Cruise Line by 120.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 22,498,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $470,889,000 after purchasing an additional 12,313,426 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its position in Norwegian Cruise Line by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 20,216,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $423,136,000 after purchasing an additional 102,948 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. purchased a new position in Norwegian Cruise Line during the 3rd quarter worth $179,146,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Norwegian Cruise Line by 32.9% in 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 during the period. 69.58% of the stock is 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.