Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL) Coverage Initiated at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL) in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set an “outperform” rating and a $26.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas’ target price indicates a potential upside of 31.02% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on CCL. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Carnival Co. & from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Carnival Co. & from $24.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Tigress Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Carnival Co. & in a research report on Wednesday. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Carnival Co. & from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Carnival Co. & from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.89.

Carnival Co. & Price Performance

CCL stock opened at $19.85 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. The firm has a market cap of $23.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.28, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.66. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.11. Carnival Co. & has a 12-month low of $13.78 and a 12-month high of $28.72.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Carnival Co. &

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CCL. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Carnival Co. & by 186.6% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,898,906 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,681,000 after buying an additional 6,444,444 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Carnival Co. & by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 22,850,042 shares of the company’s stock valued at $569,423,000 after acquiring an additional 5,761,489 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Carnival Co. & by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,095,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,918,022,000 after acquiring an additional 4,458,329 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in Carnival Co. & in the 4th quarter valued at $100,845,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 228.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,689,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,857,000 after purchasing an additional 3,263,204 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.19% of the company’s stock.

Carnival Co. & Company 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.