Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) Rating Increased to Buy at The Goldman Sachs Group

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) was upgraded by investment analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $35.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $29.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 35.03% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Norwegian Cruise Line from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $19.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $25.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.67.

Norwegian Cruise Line Price Performance

Shares of NCLH stock opened at $25.92 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.35, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a current ratio of 0.20. Norwegian Cruise Line has a fifty-two week low of $14.69 and a fifty-two week high of $28.64. The firm has a market cap of $11.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 2.65. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $25.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.42.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $2.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Norwegian Cruise Line will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Andrea Demarco sold 29,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total transaction 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 represents a 22.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Faye L. Ashby sold 38,344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 116,270 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,174,171. This trade represents a 24.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 82,344 shares of company stock worth $2,269,731 in the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NCLH. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 34.1% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 2.1% in the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 24,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $509,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Norwegian Cruise Line by 1.1% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 46,016 shares of the company’s stock valued at $944,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the period. Mount Lucas Management LP increased its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 2.4% in the third quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP now owns 22,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $452,000 after buying an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 1.2% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 44,757 shares of the company’s stock worth $918,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. 69.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Norwegian Cruise Line Company 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.