Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.04, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $5.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. Carnival Co. & had a net margin of 1.79% and a return on equity of 7.75%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.55) earnings per share.

Carnival Co. & Price Performance

Carnival Co. & stock traded down $0.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $16.34. 60,284,333 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 33,767,268. The company has a market cap of $18.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.85 and a beta of 2.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $16.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $15.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.27. Carnival Co. & has a 12-month low of $8.70 and a 12-month high of $19.74.

Insider Activity at Carnival Co. &

In related news, CFO David Bernstein sold 153,995 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.37, for a total transaction of $2,366,903.15. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 181,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,797,047.97. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 11.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Carnival Co. & by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 113,163,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,098,055,000 after acquiring an additional 559,038 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Carnival Co. & by 2.3% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,504,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,642,000 after acquiring an additional 469,764 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in Carnival Co. & by 27.6% during the first quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 11,197,800 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,658,000 after acquiring an additional 2,423,700 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Carnival Co. & by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,279,978 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,797,000 after acquiring an additional 736,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in Carnival Co. & by 177.5% during the second quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 8,132,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,142,000 after acquiring an additional 5,201,843 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 67.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CCL. Macquarie boosted their target price on shares of Carnival Co. & from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Susquehanna cut their target price on shares of Carnival Co. & from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Carnival Co. & from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $22.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Carnival Co. & from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Carnival Co. & from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.42.

Carnival Co. & Company Profile

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.