Patton Fund Management Inc. Makes New $5.73 Million Investment in Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL)

Patton Fund Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 229,847 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,728,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CCL. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 175,943 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,384,000 after purchasing an additional 1,678 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & by 72.3% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 2,870,760 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,052,000 after purchasing an additional 1,204,500 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. acquired a new position in shares of Carnival Co. & in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,140,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 39,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its holdings in shares of Carnival Co. & by 10.1% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 264,728 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,892,000 after purchasing an additional 24,198 shares in the last quarter. 67.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CCL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lifted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Carnival Co. & from $24.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Tigress Financial boosted their price target on shares of Carnival Co. & from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Carnival Co. & from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Finally, Macquarie boosted 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. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.24.

Carnival Co. & Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of Carnival Co. & stock traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $28.00. The company had a trading volume of 35,880,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,051,467. The company's 50-day moving average is $25.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.06. Carnival Co. & plc has a twelve month low of $13.78 and a twelve month high of $28.12. The company has a market cap of $32.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 2.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.80, a current ratio of 0.29 and a quick ratio of 0.25.

Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, December 20th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $5.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.07) EPS. Carnival Co. &'s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Carnival Co. & plc will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Carnival Co. & 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.