Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Carnival (NYSE:CCL) Price Target to $34.00

Carnival (NYSE:CCL) had its target price reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $36.00 to $34.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 38.22% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on CCL. Tigress Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Carnival from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Carnival from $43.00 to $39.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Carnival from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $32.00 price target on Carnival in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Melius Research set a $36.00 price target on Carnival in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.27.

Carnival Trading Down 2.0%

NYSE:CCL opened at $24.60 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 2.31. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $25.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.29 and a current ratio of 0.27. Carnival has a 52 week low of $21.45 and a 52 week high of $34.03.

Carnival (NYSE:CCL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, September 29th. The company reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.39 billion. Carnival had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 24.83%. The company’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. Carnival has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 0.200-0.200 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 2.240-2.240 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Carnival will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC boosted its holdings in Carnival by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 26,729,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $816,320,000 after acquiring an additional 364,529 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its position in shares of Carnival by 2,954.0% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 19,851,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,625,000 after purchasing an additional 19,201,000 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Carnival by 5.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 15,904,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $411,372,000 after purchasing an additional 834,885 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Carnival by 67.3% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 6,770,304 shares of the company’s stock worth $193,428,000 after purchasing an additional 2,723,171 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Carnival by 2,432.8% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 6,689,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,311,000 after purchasing an additional 6,425,822 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.19% of the company’s stock.

More Carnival News

Here are the key news stories impacting Carnival this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Record Q3 results and resilient demand support the long-term outlook. Carnival reported adjusted EPS of $1.43 and revenue of $8.44 billion, exceeding analyst estimates of $1.35 and $8.39 billion. Net income reached approximately $1.9 billion, while net yields and revenue were records. Carnival Corporation Q3 results
• Positive Sentiment: Bookings provide visibility into 2027. About half of Carnival’s 2027 inventory is booked at record occupancy and pricing, and customer deposits reached $7.6 billion. The company is limiting capacity growth to roughly 0.5%, which could help preserve pricing power and net yields. CCL Q3 earnings call highlights
• Positive Sentiment: Full-year guidance was raised. Carnival now expects fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS of approximately $2.24, above the roughly $2.22 consensus estimate. Analysts remain broadly constructive, with Mizuho retaining an Outperform rating and a $38 price target despite a modest reduction. Carnival average price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Options activity points to continued bullish speculation. Traders purchased more than 100,000 Carnival call options, approximately double the average daily volume, indicating elevated interest in further upside but also potentially increasing short-term volatility. Carnival call options activity
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term guidance and costs are weighing on sentiment. Carnival’s fourth-quarter EPS forecast of $0.20 is below the approximately $0.25 analyst consensus. Fuel costs rose sharply, pressuring margins, and several analysts lowered price targets after the earnings report. The stock may also be experiencing profit-taking following its large earnings-driven advance. Analysts cut Carnival forecasts

Carnival Company Profile

Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE: CCL) is a global leisure travel company that operates cruise lines and related vacation businesses. Its brands offer ocean cruises, onboard entertainment, dining, accommodation, excursions and other travel experiences to passengers across a range of price points and destinations.

The company’s portfolio includes Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, Cunard, P&O Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia, AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises.