Baird Financial Group Inc. Has $445,000 Stake in Carnival Corporation $CCL

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group cut its Carnival position by 86% in the second quarter, selling 95,452 shares and retaining 15,581 shares valued at approximately $445,000. Institutional investors collectively own 67.19% of Carnival.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with Carnival carrying a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $34.42, despite several firms recently lowering or raising their targets.
• Carnival reported quarterly earnings of $0.41 per share, exceeding estimates of $0.34, while revenue rose 5.3% year over year to $6.66 billion. The company also maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share, yielding about 2.7%.

Baird Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL - Free Report) by 86.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,581 shares of the company's stock after selling 95,452 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Carnival were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Carnival by 8.4% during the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 44,284 shares of the company's stock worth $1,265,000 after purchasing an additional 3,424 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of Carnival by 21.2% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 366,557 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,473,000 after buying an additional 64,069 shares in the last quarter. West Family Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Carnival during the 2nd quarter worth $472,000. Waverly Advisors LLC raised its stake in Carnival by 14.1% during the 2nd quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 127,197 shares of the company's stock worth $3,634,000 after buying an additional 15,751 shares during the period. Finally, Nykredit A S bought a new position in Carnival during the second quarter worth about $8,162,000. Institutional investors own 67.19% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Carnival from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Carnival from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Carnival from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Carnival from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Carnival from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $34.42.

Carnival Stock Performance

CCL opened at $22.35 on Tuesday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $25.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.49. Carnival Corporation has a 52-week low of $21.81 and a 52-week high of $34.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.61 billion, a PE ratio of 10.07, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 2.31.

Carnival (NYSE:CCL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 23rd. The company reported $0.41 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.07. Carnival had a net margin of 11.24% and a return on equity of 26.11%. The firm had revenue of $6.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Carnival Corporation will post 2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Carnival Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 7th. Carnival's payout ratio is presently 27.03%.

About Carnival

Carnival Corporation & plc is a global leisure travel company that operates cruise lines and related vacation businesses. Its cruise brands serve travelers in North America, Europe, Australia, and other international markets, offering ocean voyages to destinations throughout the Caribbean, Europe, Alaska, Asia, Australia, and other regions.

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

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.