Carnival Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CCL)

Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 92,509 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 84% compared to the typical daily volume of 50,158 call options.

Carnival Price Performance

Shares of Carnival stock opened at $29.44 on Tuesday. Carnival has a twelve month low of $15.07 and a twelve month high of $32.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.34. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.32. The firm has a market cap of $34.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 2.70.

Carnival (NYSE:CCL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 29th. The company reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $8.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.09 billion. Carnival had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 9.72%.Carnival’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. Carnival has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.230-0.230 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 2.140-2.140 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Carnival will post 1.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Carnival from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Carnival from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Loop Capital reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $22.00 price target on shares of Carnival in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Carnival from $34.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Carnival from $21.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Carnival

In related news, Director Sir Jonathon Band sold 12,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.75, for a total transaction of $371,875.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 64,406 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,916,078.50. This represents a 16.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CCL. Causeway Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Carnival in the 1st quarter worth approximately $518,816,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Carnival during the 1st quarter valued at about $432,718,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Carnival by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 126,663,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,561,777,000 after purchasing an additional 7,157,739 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Carnival by 184.3% during the second quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 10,289,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,353,000 after buying an additional 6,669,935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 59 North Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Carnival by 117.1% during the 2nd quarter. 59 North Capital Management LP now owns 7,704,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $216,642,000 after acquiring an additional 4,155,630 shares during the last quarter. 67.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Carnival

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.