Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 920,070 Shares of Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL)

Prudential Financial Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL) by 59.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 640,541 shares of the company’s stock after selling 920,070 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.06% of Carnival Co. & worth $15,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,095,566 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,918,022,000 after buying an additional 4,458,329 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 41,426,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $765,563,000 after acquiring an additional 2,301,906 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Carnival Co. & during the 4th quarter valued at $53,636,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC raised its holdings in Carnival Co. & by 718.2% in 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 during the period. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in Carnival Co. & in the 3rd quarter worth $26,806,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.19% of the company’s stock.

Carnival Co. & Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE CCL opened at $20.80 on Friday. Carnival Co. & plc has a 52-week low of $13.78 and a 52-week high of $28.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.96, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.66. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $23.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.08. 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. & (NYSE:CCL) last issued its earnings results on Friday, March 21st. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $5.81 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.74 billion. Carnival Co. & had a return on equity of 24.13% and a net margin of 7.66%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.14) EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Carnival Co. & plc will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Carnival Co. & in a research note on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Carnival Co. & from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Carnival Co. & in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Carnival Co. & from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Carnival Co. & in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Carnival Co. & currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.89.

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.