Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Sells 3,900 Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lessened its position in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 39,200 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,900 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises were worth $9,043,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of RCL. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 10,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,896,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 10,599.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 409,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,696,000 after purchasing an additional 406,048 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,224,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 5,739 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,018,000 after purchasing an additional 538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,677 shares of the company’s stock valued at $830,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.53% of the company’s stock.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock opened at $234.16 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.02 billion, a PE ratio of 21.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.59. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has a 52-week low of $119.48 and a 52-week high of $277.08. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $244.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $213.32.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will post 14.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.75 per share. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. This is a boost from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s payout ratio is presently 20.58%.

Royal Caribbean Cruises announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 1.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on RCL. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $287.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $271.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Mizuho reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $253.00 price objective (down previously from $255.00) on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $232.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.12.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Naftali Holtz sold 17,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.62, for a total transaction of $4,447,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 42,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,021,265.74. The trade was a 28.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Laura H. Bethge sold 14,992 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.86, for a total transaction of $3,925,805.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 21,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,539,648.30. The trade was a 41.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 109,492 shares of company stock valued at $28,571,705 over the last three months. Insiders own 7.95% of the company’s stock.

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.