Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 428,078 Shares of Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its holdings in Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL) by 48.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 463,273 shares of the company’s stock after selling 428,078 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Carnival Co. & were worth $11,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & by 72.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,870,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,052,000 after buying an additional 1,204,500 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. bought a new stake in Carnival Co. & during the third quarter worth $1,140,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Carnival Co. & by 1.0% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 4,075,201 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,310,000 after acquiring an additional 39,491 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its stake in shares of Carnival Co. & by 10.1% during the 3rd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 264,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,892,000 after purchasing an additional 24,198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & by 181.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 123,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,288,000 after purchasing an additional 79,857 shares during the period. 67.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CCL shares. Macquarie lifted their price target on Carnival Co. & from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Carnival Co. & in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Carnival Co. & from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Carnival Co. & from $31.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on shares of Carnival Co. & from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $27.18.

Carnival Co. & Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CCL opened at $25.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.83 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 2.64. Carnival Co. & plc has a fifty-two week low of $13.78 and a fifty-two week high of $27.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $25.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.61.

Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, December 20th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.06. Carnival Co. & had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 24.13%. The business had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.07) earnings per share. Carnival Co. &’s revenue was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Carnival Co. & plc will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Sir Jonathon Band sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.72, for a total value of $380,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 65,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,428,937.08. This represents a 21.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 11.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Carnival Co. & 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.