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

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 30,392 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 29% compared to the average volume of 23,470 call options.

Norwegian Cruise Line Trading Up 7.7 %

NYSE:NCLH traded up $2.04 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $28.43. The stock had a trading volume of 19,603,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,730,600. The business’s 50 day moving average is $26.44 and its 200-day moving average is $22.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.35, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a current ratio of 0.20. The company 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 has a one year low of $14.69 and a one year high of $28.64.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NYSE:NCLH) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $2.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Norwegian Cruise Line will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Norwegian Cruise Line

In other Norwegian Cruise Line news, CAO Faye L. Ashby sold 38,344 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.30, for a total transaction of $1,046,791.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 116,270 shares in the company, valued at $3,174,171. This trade represents a 24.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Andrea Demarco sold 29,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.76, for a total value 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. The trade was a 22.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 82,344 shares of company stock valued at $2,269,731 in the last 90 days. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Norwegian Cruise Line in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 192.3% in the 3rd quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Norwegian Cruise Line by 34.1% in the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Norwegian Cruise Line by 489.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in Norwegian Cruise Line during the third quarter valued at approximately $56,000. 69.58% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on NCLH. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Norwegian Cruise Line from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.