Verition Fund Management LLC Buys 1,286,054 Shares of Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL)

Verition Fund Management LLC increased its position in Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL) by 115.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,404,541 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,286,054 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Carnival Co. & were worth $44,436,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Carnival Co. & during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Carnival Co. & in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Carnival Co. & in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 1,431.5% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,654 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 1,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Carnival Co. & by 163.9% during the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares during the last quarter. 67.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Carnival Co. & from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Carnival Co. & from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Carnival Co. & from $15.00 to $16.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Carnival Co. & in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Carnival Co. & from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Sir Jonathon Band sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.72, for a total value of $380,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 65,789 shares in the company, valued at $1,428,937.08. This trade represents a 21.01 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 11.00% of the company’s stock.

Carnival Co. & Stock Performance

Shares of CCL opened at $25.14 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.02 billion, a PE ratio of 22.45 and a beta of 2.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.10, a current ratio of 0.30 and a quick ratio of 0.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.30. Carnival Co. & plc has a one year low of $13.78 and a one year high of $25.80.

Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 30th. The company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.82 billion. Carnival Co. & had a net margin of 6.39% and a return on equity of 22.30%. Carnival Co. &’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Carnival Co. & plc will post 1.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Carnival Co. &

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.