Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-two ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $26.47.

CCL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on Carnival Co. & from $32.00 to $26.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley raised Carnival Co. & from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $25.00 to $21.00 in a report on Thursday, April 10th. HSBC raised Carnival Co. & from a "reduce" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, May 16th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Carnival Co. & in a report on Thursday, March 27th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $26.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Carnival Co. & from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th.

Carnival Co. & Stock Up 1.2%

CCL stock opened at $24.31 on Friday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $20.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.98. Carnival Co. & has a fifty-two week low of $13.78 and a fifty-two week high of $28.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $28.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.58.

Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 21st. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $5.81 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.14) EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Carnival Co. & will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Carnival Co. &

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CCL. Causeway Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Carnival Co. & during the first quarter valued at $518,816,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Carnival Co. & during the first quarter worth $432,718,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 186.6% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,898,906 shares of the company's stock worth $246,681,000 after acquiring an additional 6,444,444 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 33.7% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 22,850,042 shares of the company's stock worth $569,423,000 after acquiring an additional 5,761,489 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 4.0% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 67.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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