Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Grows Position in Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in shares of Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL) by 253.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 134,732 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 96,628 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Carnival Co. & were worth $3,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Yousif Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Carnival Co. & by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 166,433 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,148,000 after buying an additional 35,702 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 224,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,605,000 after acquiring an additional 6,420 shares in the last quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC boosted its position in Carnival Co. & by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 32,896 shares of the company’s stock worth $786,000 after purchasing an additional 2,372 shares during the period. Patron Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Carnival Co. & in the 4th quarter valued at $201,000. Finally, Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. purchased a new position in Carnival Co. & in the fourth quarter valued at about $8,162,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.19% of the company’s stock.

Carnival Co. & Stock Performance

CCL stock opened at $27.46 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.42. Carnival Co. & plc has a 12-month low of $13.78 and a 12-month high of $28.72. The firm has a market cap of $31.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.64. 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. & (NYSE:CCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, December 20th. The company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.06. Carnival Co. & had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 24.13%. The company had revenue of $5.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.07) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Carnival Co. & plc will post 1.77 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Carnival Co. & from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Carnival Co. & from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Carnival Co. & from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Carnival Co. & from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital began coverage on shares of Carnival Co. & in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.11.

About Carnival Co. &

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.