Macquarie Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) Stock

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) had its price target lifted by Macquarie from $24.00 to $30.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Norwegian Cruise Line from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup upgraded Norwegian Cruise Line from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.80.

Norwegian Cruise Line Stock Performance

NYSE:NCLH traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $24.88. The stock had a trading volume of 12,222,766 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,937,590. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.19, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.60. Norwegian Cruise Line has a twelve month low of $12.70 and a twelve month high of $26.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.27, a PEG ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 2.71.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.05. Norwegian Cruise Line had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 105.44%. The business had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.38 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.20 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Norwegian Cruise Line will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Norwegian Cruise Line

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 120.9% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. purchased a new position in Norwegian Cruise Line in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,479,000. 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 during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line during the second quarter valued at approximately $15,213,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 3,190.5% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 436,227 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,947,000 after purchasing an additional 422,970 shares in the last quarter. 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.