Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC Takes Position in Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL)

Pinkerton Retirement Specialists LLC acquired a new position in Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 47,587 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,186,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CCL. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & by 186.6% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 9,898,906 shares of the company's stock worth $246,681,000 after buying an additional 6,444,444 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & by 33.7% in 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 during the last quarter. 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. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in Carnival Co. & during the 4th quarter worth approximately $100,845,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Carnival Co. & by 228.8% during the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 67.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CCL. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Carnival Co. & from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Loop Capital decreased their target price on shares of Carnival Co. & from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Carnival Co. & in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Carnival Co. & from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Carnival Co. & from $31.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $26.53.

Carnival Co. & Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of CCL stock traded down $0.16 on Friday, hitting $22.27. The stock had a trading volume of 15,872,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 25,877,955. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $19.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.03. The company has a market cap of $25.98 billion, a PE ratio of 16.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.50. Carnival Co. & plc has a one year low of $13.78 and a one year high of $28.72.

Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, March 21st. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.11. Carnival Co. & had a return on equity of 24.13% and a net margin of 7.66%. The firm had revenue of $5.81 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.14) earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Carnival Co. & plc will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.