Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) Shares Sold by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC cut its holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,990 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,279 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises were worth $708,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in RCL. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 2.6% in the third quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 289,518 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,349,000 after acquiring an additional 7,298 shares during the last quarter. Souders Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in the 3rd quarter valued at $800,000. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 725,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,699,000 after buying an additional 3,800 shares during the period. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 2nd quarter worth $611,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 35,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,310,000 after buying an additional 2,640 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on RCL shares. StockNews.com upgraded Royal Caribbean Cruises from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price objective for the company. Macquarie raised their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $189.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $250.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Royal Caribbean Cruises has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $239.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard D. Fain sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $210.02, for a total value of $5,250,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 204,521 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,953,500.42. The trade was a 10.89 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Henry L. Pujol sold 6,723 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $208.51, for a total value of $1,401,812.73. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 9,964 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,077,593.64. This represents a 40.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 404,332 shares of company stock worth $94,299,521. 7.95% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of RCL opened at $245.17 on Friday. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has a one year low of $113.10 and a one year high of $258.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $222.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $182.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.19. The company has a market capitalization of $65.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 2.59.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $5.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.05 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $4.89 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.89 billion. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a return on equity of 52.92% and a net margin of 16.21%. The business’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.85 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will post 11.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.61%.

About Royal Caribbean Cruises

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.