Van ECK Associates Corp Sells 8,344 Shares of Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL)

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its position in Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 295,008 shares of the company’s stock after selling 8,344 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Carnival Co. & were worth $7,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CCL. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 8,431.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 6,644,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $122,781,000 after buying an additional 6,566,120 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 2,400.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,010,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,280,000 after buying an additional 2,889,785 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 41,426,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $765,563,000 after buying an additional 2,301,906 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in Carnival Co. & by 718.2% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 2,165,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,976,000 after purchasing an additional 1,901,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Carnival Co. & during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,806,000. Institutional investors own 67.19% of the company’s stock.

Carnival Co. & Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE CCL opened at $26.20 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.29. Carnival Co. & plc has a 52-week low of $13.78 and a 52-week high of $28.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $25.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.87. The stock has a market cap of $30.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 2.64.

Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, December 20th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.06. Carnival Co. & had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 24.13%. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.07) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Carnival Co. & plc will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho increased their target price on Carnival Co. & from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays increased their target price on Carnival Co. & from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Carnival Co. & from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Carnival Co. & from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Loop Capital assumed coverage on Carnival Co. & in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.11.

Carnival Co. & Profile

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.