Vanguard Group Inc. Has $2.92 Billion Stock Holdings in Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 117,095,566 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 4,458,329 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.06% of Carnival Co. & worth $2,918,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CCL. Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Carnival Co. & in the fourth quarter valued at about $245,000. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in Carnival Co. & by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 730,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,205,000 after buying an additional 72,701 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Carnival Co. & by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,534,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,242,000 after acquiring an additional 146,267 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Carnival Co. & by 50.3% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 98,450 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after acquiring an additional 32,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new stake in Carnival Co. & in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. 67.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CCL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Carnival Co. & from $24.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Carnival Co. & in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Carnival Co. & in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $26.00 price objective on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on Carnival Co. & from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Carnival Co. & from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.72.

Carnival Co. & Stock Performance

CCL opened at $21.25 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. The stock has a market cap of $24.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.29, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.66. Carnival Co. & plc has a 1 year low of $13.78 and a 1 year high of $28.72.

Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 21st. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $5.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.74 billion. Carnival Co. & had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 24.13%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.14) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Carnival Co. & plc will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

About Carnival Co. &

Carnival Corp. engages in the operation of cruise ships. It operates through the following business segments: North America and Australia (NAA) Cruise, Europe and Asia (EA) Cruise Operations, Cruise Support, and Tour and Others. The North America and Australia (NAA) Cruise segment includes the Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, and Seabourn.