Hudock Inc. Purchases Shares of 1,071 Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL)

Hudock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 1,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in RCL. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. grew its position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 257.4% during the third quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. now owns 168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises during the fourth quarter valued at about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.53% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RCL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Argus raised their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $280.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 price target for the company. Barclays lifted their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $287.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Loop Capital started coverage on Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $250.00 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $284.12.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Performance

Royal Caribbean Cruises stock opened at $256.11 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $243.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $207.31. 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 fifty-two week low of $113.10 and a fifty-two week high of $277.08. The company has a market capitalization of $68.86 billion, a PE ratio of 23.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.59.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will post 14.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. This is an increase from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s payout ratio is currently 20.58%.

Royal Caribbean Cruises declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Royal Caribbean Cruises news, Director Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen sold 139,353 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 18,167,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,321,868,240.23. The trade was a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Harri U. Kulovaara sold 3,256 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,348 shares in the company, valued at $5,243,287.76. This represents a 12.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 372,609 shares of company stock valued at $87,647,208. Corporate insiders own 7.95% of the company’s stock.

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.