Carnival Corporation has announced that it intends to make a two for one stock split of its class A and class B common shares in December.

According to Howard Frank, Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer of Carnival Corporation, the company hopes the split will generate greater interest among retail investors who typically buy round lots of shares at lower prices than instirutional investors, he said.

Frank said that approximately 75 percent to 80 percent of Carnival’s outstanding shares were held by institutions and the remaining by individual investors.

Carnival Corporation reached a high of $52 1/4 earlier this year, but has recently been trading around $43 – $44. At press time, however, Carnival jumped to $45 1/2.

After the split Carnival’s shares will initially trade for half the price at the time of the split which will also price Carnival below or in the same range as the shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises.

Carnival has also increased the regular quarterly dividend from 14 cents to 15 cents per share for the fourth quarter ended November 30. The dividend is payable on Dec. 14, 1994, before the stock split.