Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL)

Carnival Co. & plc (NYSE:CCL) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors purchased 118,627 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 34% compared to the typical volume of 88,358 call options.

Carnival Co. & Stock Performance

Shares of CCL stock opened at $16.20 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $18.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.29 and a beta of 2.53. Carnival Co. & has a 1-year low of $10.38 and a 1-year high of $19.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.27. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.86.

Carnival Co. & (NYSE:CCL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $5.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.42 billion. Carnival Co. & had a return on equity of 7.75% and a net margin of 1.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.55) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Carnival Co. & will post 1.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Carnival Co. &

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CCL. Richardson Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Carnival Co. & during the first quarter worth $26,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Carnival Co. & during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Carnival Co. & during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Carnival Co. & in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, BNP Paribas bought a new position in Carnival Co. & during the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CCL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Carnival Co. & from $23.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Carnival Co. & from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Carnival Co. & in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Argus dropped their price target on shares of Carnival Co. & from $23.00 to $20.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Carnival Co. & from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.58.

Carnival Co. & Company Profile

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.