Townsquare Capital LLC Increases Stake in Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL)

Townsquare Capital LLC increased its stake in Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) by 11.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 31,906 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,372 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Carnival were worth $623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Carnival by 33.7% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 22,850,042 shares of the company’s stock worth $569,423,000 after purchasing an additional 5,761,489 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in Carnival in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $100,845,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Carnival by 228.8% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,689,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,857,000 after buying an additional 3,263,204 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its stake in Carnival by 9,220.3% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 3,297,434 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,172,000 after buying an additional 3,262,055 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in shares of Carnival by 58.1% in the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 7,056,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,842,000 after acquiring an additional 2,593,046 shares in the last quarter. 67.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Carnival Stock Down 1.7%

CCL stock opened at $29.74 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.91 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.81. The company has a market capitalization of $34.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.08, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 2.70. Carnival Corporation has a twelve month low of $15.07 and a twelve month high of $31.01.

Carnival (NYSE:CCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 24th. The company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $6.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.20 billion. Carnival had a net margin of 9.72% and a return on equity of 27.88%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.11 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Carnival Corporation will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CCL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Carnival from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Carnival from $31.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Macquarie reduced their price objective on Carnival from $31.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Carnival from $27.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Carnival from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Carnival news, Director Sir Jonathon Band sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.75, for a total transaction of $371,875.00. Following the sale, the director owned 64,406 shares in the company, valued at $1,916,078.50. This represents a 16.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Carnival 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.