Royal Caribbean Cruises Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:RCL)

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors bought 17,909 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 61% compared to the average daily volume of 11,127 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on RCL shares. Citigroup increased their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $283.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Mizuho reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $253.00 price objective (down previously from $255.00) on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $287.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $250.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Macquarie boosted their price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $279.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Richard D. Fain sold 19,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $256.68, for a total transaction of $5,005,260.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 185,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,491,190.28. The trade was a 9.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jason T. Liberty sold 58,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.95, for a total transaction of $15,193,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 143,214 shares in the company, valued at $37,514,907.30. The trade was a 28.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 109,492 shares of company stock valued at $28,571,705. 7.95% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Caribbean Cruises

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of RCL. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,712,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,854,905,000 after acquiring an additional 278,860 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,072,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,476,003,000 after purchasing an additional 2,068,114 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,969,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,373,856,000 after buying an additional 353,893 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $707,833,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 24.0% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,653,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $612,080,000 after buying an additional 513,702 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.53% of the company’s stock.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Price Performance

Shares of NYSE RCL opened at $177.60 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. The stock has a market cap of $47.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $234.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $224.43. Royal Caribbean Cruises has a twelve month low of $125.06 and a twelve month high of $277.08.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.13. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a net margin of 17.46% and a return on equity of 48.97%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Royal Caribbean Cruises will post 14.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s payout ratio is 28.06%.

Royal Caribbean Cruises declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Company Profile

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. operates as a cruise company worldwide. The company operates cruises under the Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises brands, which comprise a range of itineraries. As of February 21, 2024, it operated 65 ships. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.