Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL) Shares Acquired by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in shares of Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,211,867 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,915 shares during the period. Carnival Co. & comprises about 0.8% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th biggest holding. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.19% of Carnival Co. & worth $43,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new stake in Carnival Co. & in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Carnival Co. & in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Carnival Co. & in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Carnival Co. & during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Carnival Co. & during the 4th quarter worth about $46,000. 67.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CCL. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Carnival Co. & from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. HSBC upgraded Carnival Co. & from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Tigress Financial reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Carnival Co. & in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Carnival Co. & in a report on Thursday, March 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $26.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price target on Carnival Co. & from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Carnival Co. & currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.47.

Carnival Co. & Trading Up 1.2%

CCL opened at $24.31 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 2.58. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80. Carnival Co. & plc has a 12 month low of $13.78 and a 12 month high of $28.72.

Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, March 21st. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.11. Carnival Co. & had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 24.13%. The firm had revenue of $5.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.14) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Carnival Co. & plc will post 1.77 EPS 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.