CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp Acquires 15,368 Shares of Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL)

CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL - Free Report) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 546,487 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 15,368 shares during the period. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Carnival were worth $10,673,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Carnival by 186.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,898,906 shares of the company's stock valued at $246,681,000 after purchasing an additional 6,444,444 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Carnival 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 buying an additional 5,761,489 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Carnival by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,095,566 shares of the company's stock valued at $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 during the fourth quarter worth about $100,845,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Carnival by 228.8% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,689,305 shares of the company's stock worth $116,857,000 after acquiring an additional 3,263,204 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CCL. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Carnival in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Loop Capital reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $22.00 price objective on shares of Carnival in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Carnival from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Mizuho raised their price target on Carnival from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Carnival from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $28.65.

Carnival Price Performance

CCL traded up $1.00 on Wednesday, reaching $29.64. The stock had a trading volume of 33,719,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,219,456. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. The company has a market capitalization of $34.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 2.61. Carnival Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $13.78 and a fifty-two week high of $29.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.67 and a 200-day moving average of $22.85.

Carnival (NYSE:CCL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 24th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.11. Carnival had a net margin of 9.72% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The business had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.11 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Carnival Corporation will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

About Carnival

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.