Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Reduces Position in Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL - Free Report) by 95.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,539 shares of the company's stock after selling 81,034 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.'s holdings in Carnival Co. & were worth $66,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Carnival Co. & by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,697,626 shares of the company's stock worth $87,094,000 after acquiring an additional 652,798 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 117.5% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,498,569 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,000,000 after buying an additional 1,890,081 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 3,164,728 shares of the company's stock valued at $43,420,000 after buying an additional 44,972 shares during the last quarter. Blackstone Inc. lifted its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 50.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blackstone Inc. now owns 3,000,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,160,000 after buying an additional 1,010,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,882,868 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,833,000 after buying an additional 82,869 shares during the last quarter. 67.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CCL shares. Barclays upped their price target on Carnival Co. & from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Carnival Co. & from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Argus dropped their price target on Carnival Co. & from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Macquarie boosted their price objective on Carnival Co. & from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Carnival Co. & from $26.00 to $25.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $21.47.

Insider Transactions at Carnival Co. &

In related news, CFO David Bernstein sold 153,995 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.37, for a total transaction of $2,366,903.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 181,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,797,047.97. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 11.00% of the company's stock.

Carnival Co. & Price Performance

Shares of CCL traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $14.56. The stock had a trading volume of 24,857,867 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,796,742. The company's 50-day moving average is $15.43 and its 200 day moving average is $15.69. Carnival Co. & plc has a 12-month low of $9.82 and a 12-month high of $19.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.27. The company has a market capitalization of $16.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.88 and a beta of 2.53.

Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 27th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.04. Carnival Co. & had a return on equity of 7.75% and a net margin of 1.79%. The firm had revenue of $5.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.55) EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Carnival Co. & plc will post 1.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Carnival Co. &

Carnival Corporation & plc engages in the provision of leisure travel services in North America, Australia, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: NAA Cruise Operations, Europe Cruise Operations, Cruise Support, and Tour and Other. It operates port destinations, private islands, and a solar park, as well as owns and operates hotels, lodges, glass-domed railcars, and motor coaches.