Hartford Investment Management Co. Raises Stock Holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL)

Hartford Investment Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 15,337 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 331 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises were worth $3,538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 5.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,431 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,850,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 241.5% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 38,119 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,761,000 after purchasing an additional 4,311 shares during the period. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 12,428 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,204,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. 87.53% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:RCL opened at $256.11 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $243.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.31. The company has a market cap of $68.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.96, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.17. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has a one year low of $113.10 and a one year high of $277.08.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will post 14.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is an increase from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.58%.

Insider Transactions at Royal Caribbean Cruises

In other Royal Caribbean Cruises news, EVP Harri U. Kulovaara sold 3,256 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.62, for a total transaction of $763,922.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,348 shares in the company, valued at $5,243,287.76. The trade was a 12.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen sold 139,353 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.89, for a total value of $33,150,685.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,167,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,321,868,240.23. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 372,609 shares of company stock valued at $87,647,208. 7.95% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on RCL shares. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $250.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $283.00 to $304.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $271.00 to $301.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.12.

Royal Caribbean Cruises 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.