Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $204.00 to $253.00. The stock had previously closed at $183.39, but opened at $188.29. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. Royal Caribbean Cruises shares last traded at $188.91, with a volume of 323,422 shares trading hands.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on RCL. Bank of America upped their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $145.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded Royal Caribbean Cruises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $155.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $140.00 to $154.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.19.

Insider Activity at Royal Caribbean Cruises

In other Royal Caribbean Cruises news, Director Vagn O. Sorensen sold 5,800 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.50, for a total transaction of $919,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,095,164.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Royal Caribbean Cruises news, insider Laura H. Bethge sold 3,073 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total value of $518,445.83. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 27,388 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,620,629.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Vagn O. Sorensen sold 5,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.50, for a total value of $919,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,837 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,095,164.50. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.95% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of RCL. Waterloo Capital L.P. bought a new position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in the fourth quarter worth about $213,000. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 21,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,761,000 after purchasing an additional 2,055 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 29.8% in the 4th quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 87,116 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,281,000 after buying an additional 20,022 shares during the period. Optimist Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 4th quarter valued at about $202,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 4th quarter valued at about $765,000. Institutional investors own 87.53% of the company’s stock.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Up 3.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.20, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a current ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $48.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 2.61. The business’s fifty day moving average is $164.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $153.56.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $3.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.45. The business had revenue of $4.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.05 billion. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a net margin of 16.32% and a return on equity of 52.49%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.82 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will post 11.63 EPS for the current year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 11th. Investors of record on Friday, September 20th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 20th. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.62%.

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.