Carnival (NYSE:CCL) Price Target Cut to $34.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo lowered Carnival’s price target from $36 to $34 while maintaining an “overweight” rating, implying approximately 38% upside from the reported $24.60 share price.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: Carnival has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $34.27, despite mixed revisions from other firms.
• Carnival exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $1.43 in EPS and $8.44 billion in revenue, while institutional investors collectively own 67.19% of the stock.

Carnival (NYSE:CCL - Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price target would indicate a potential upside of 38.22% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Melius Research set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Carnival in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Carnival from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 22nd. Tigress Financial boosted their target price on shares of Carnival from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $32.00 price objective on Carnival in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Carnival from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.27.

Carnival Price Performance

Carnival stock opened at $24.60 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.74, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 2.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $25.24 and a 200-day moving average of $26.32. Carnival has a 52-week low of $21.45 and a 52-week high of $34.03.

Carnival (NYSE:CCL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 29th. The company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.08. Carnival had a return on equity of 24.83% and a net margin of 11.37%.The company had revenue of $8.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Carnival has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.200-0.200 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.240-2.240 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Carnival will post 2.24 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Carnival

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCL. Nuveen LLC boosted its position in shares of Carnival by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 26,729,524 shares of the company's stock valued at $816,320,000 after purchasing an additional 364,529 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings in shares of Carnival by 2,954.0% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 19,851,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $60,625,000 after purchasing an additional 19,201,000 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Carnival by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,904,029 shares of the company's stock valued at $411,372,000 after buying an additional 834,885 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Carnival by 67.3% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 6,770,304 shares of the company's stock worth $193,428,000 after acquiring an additional 2,723,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Carnival by 2,432.8% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,689,954 shares of the company's stock worth $204,311,000 after acquiring an additional 6,425,822 shares during the last quarter. 67.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Carnival News

Here are the key news stories impacting Carnival this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Record Q3 results and resilient demand support the long-term outlook. Carnival reported adjusted EPS of $1.43 and revenue of $8.44 billion, exceeding analyst estimates of $1.35 and $8.39 billion. Net income reached approximately $1.9 billion, while net yields and revenue were records. Carnival Corporation Q3 results
• Positive Sentiment: Bookings provide visibility into 2027. About half of Carnival’s 2027 inventory is booked at record occupancy and pricing, and customer deposits reached $7.6 billion. The company is limiting capacity growth to roughly 0.5%, which could help preserve pricing power and net yields. CCL Q3 earnings call highlights
• Positive Sentiment: Full-year guidance was raised. Carnival now expects fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS of approximately $2.24, above the roughly $2.22 consensus estimate. Analysts remain broadly constructive, with Mizuho retaining an Outperform rating and a $38 price target despite a modest reduction. Carnival average price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity points to continued bullish speculation. Traders purchased more than 100,000 Carnival call options, approximately double the average daily volume, indicating elevated interest in further upside but also potentially increasing short-term volatility. Carnival call options activity
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term guidance and costs are weighing on sentiment. Carnival’s fourth-quarter EPS forecast of $0.20 is below the approximately $0.25 analyst consensus. Fuel costs rose sharply, pressuring margins, and several analysts lowered price targets after the earnings report. The stock may also be experiencing profit-taking following its large earnings-driven advance. Analysts cut Carnival forecasts

About Carnival

Carnival Corporation & plc NYSE: CCL is a global leisure travel company that operates cruise lines and related vacation businesses. Its brands offer ocean cruises, onboard entertainment, dining, accommodation, excursions and other travel experiences to passengers across a range of price points and destinations.

The company's portfolio includes Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, Cunard, P&O Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia, AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises.

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