BNP Paribas Initiates Coverage on Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL)

BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) in a research note released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $262.00 target price on the stock.

RCL has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a report on Tuesday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $287.00 to $308.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $253.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Caribbean Cruises has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $282.33.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Down 4.6 %

Royal Caribbean Cruises stock opened at $207.35 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $55.80 billion, a PE ratio of 19.40, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.53. Royal Caribbean Cruises has a 12-month low of $125.06 and a 12-month high of $277.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $238.63 and its 200 day moving average is $223.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 last year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Royal Caribbean Cruises will post 14.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.45%. This is a boost from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s payout ratio is currently 28.06%.

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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Royal Caribbean Cruises

In other news, insider Laura H. Bethge sold 14,992 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 21,155 shares in the company, valued at $5,539,648.30. This trade represents a 41.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Naftali Holtz sold 17,000 shares of the company’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 value of $4,447,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 42,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,021,265.74. The trade was a 28.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 109,492 shares of company stock worth $28,571,705 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 7.95% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RCL. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,712,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,854,905,000 after acquiring an additional 278,860 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,072,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,476,003,000 after purchasing an additional 2,068,114 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,969,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,373,856,000 after purchasing an additional 353,893 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $707,833,000. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 24.0% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,653,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $612,080,000 after buying an additional 513,702 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.53% 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.