Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL) Shares Purchased by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL - Free Report) by 31.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,220,083 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 293,132 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.10% of Carnival Co. & worth $30,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CCL. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 175,943 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,384,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & by 153.4% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 336,502 shares of the company's stock worth $8,386,000 after acquiring an additional 203,710 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & by 26.6% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 86,837 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,164,000 after purchasing an additional 18,269 shares during the period. Convergence Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Carnival Co. & by 54.4% during the fourth quarter. Convergence Investment Partners LLC now owns 40,202 shares of the company's stock worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 14,165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Carnival Co. & during the fourth quarter worth about $59,486,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.19% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CCL. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Carnival Co. & from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Carnival Co. & in a report on Thursday, March 27th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $26.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Carnival Co. & from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Carnival Co. & in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Tigress Financial reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Carnival Co. & in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $26.53.

Carnival Co. & Stock Performance

NYSE CCL traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $18.33. The company had a trading volume of 31,758,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,232,672. The business has a 50 day moving average of $19.74 and a 200-day moving average of $23.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.29. Carnival Co. & plc has a 1-year low of $13.78 and a 1-year high of $28.72. The company has a market cap of $21.38 billion, a PE ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.42.

Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, March 21st. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.11. Carnival Co. & had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 24.13%. The business had revenue of $5.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.14) earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Carnival Co. & plc will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

About Carnival Co. &

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.