Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Norwegian Cruise Line Call Options (NYSE:NCLH)

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors purchased 30,392 call options on the company. This is an increase of 29% compared to the typical volume of 23,470 call options.

Norwegian Cruise Line Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:NCLH opened at $28.43 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.35. Norwegian Cruise Line has a 1 year low of $14.69 and a 1 year high of $28.64. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.55. The firm has a market cap of $12.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 2.64.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.05. Norwegian Cruise Line had a return on equity of 99.31% and a net margin of 5.87%. The business had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.77 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. Norwegian Cruise Line’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Norwegian Cruise Line will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Norwegian Cruise Line news, insider Andrea Demarco sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total transaction of $805,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 97,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,701,159.04. This trade represents a 22.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Faye L. Ashby sold 38,344 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 116,270 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,174,171. The trade was a 24.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 82,344 shares of company stock valued at $2,269,731 in the last three months. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Norwegian Cruise Line

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Norwegian Cruise Line by 34.1% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in 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 worth $509,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased 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 worth $944,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP increased its position in Norwegian Cruise Line by 2.4% during the third quarter. Mount Lucas Management LP now owns 22,055 shares of the company’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in 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 buying an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. 69.58% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NCLH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded Norwegian Cruise Line from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Norwegian Cruise Line from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $29.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Norwegian Cruise Line from $19.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Macquarie reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Norwegian Cruise Line from $26.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Norwegian Cruise Line presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.27.

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.