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

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 53,191 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 94% compared to the average volume of 27,450 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on NCLH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Macquarie reduced their price target on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $31.00 to $27.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Northcoast Research assumed coverage on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line in a report on Friday, April 25th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $21.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $32.00 to $23.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Norwegian Cruise Line presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $24.84.

Norwegian Cruise Line Price Performance

NCLH stock traded up $0.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $21.95. 10,912,993 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,914,128. Norwegian Cruise Line has a one year low of $14.21 and a one year high of $29.29. The stock has a market cap of $9.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 2.13. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.09.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.02). Norwegian Cruise Line had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 66.78%. The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.16 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Norwegian Cruise Line will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Norwegian Cruise Line

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 55,194,672 shares of the company's stock worth $1,420,159,000 after buying an additional 5,557,951 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,960,561 shares of the company's stock worth $1,023,092,000 after buying an additional 653,279 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 22.7% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,477,606 shares of the company's stock worth $217,615,000 after buying an additional 2,122,501 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,793,268 shares of the company's stock worth $277,399,000 after buying an additional 270,434 shares during the period. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 126.8% during the 1st quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 9,081,170 shares of the company's stock worth $172,179,000 after buying an additional 5,077,531 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.58% of the company's stock.

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.