Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 7th

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.75 per share on Friday, April 4th. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55.

Royal Caribbean Cruises has a dividend payout ratio of 12.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Royal Caribbean Cruises to earn $17.42 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.6%.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE RCL opened at $260.37 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $243.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $207.65. 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 has a twelve month low of $113.10 and a twelve month high of $277.08. The stock has a market cap of $70.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.36, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.59.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.13. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a return on equity of 48.97% and a net margin of 17.46%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Royal Caribbean Cruises will post 14.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Harri U. Kulovaara sold 3,256 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $234.62, for a total value of $763,922.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,243,287.76. The trade was a 12.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen sold 139,353 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.89, for a total value of $33,150,685.17. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,167,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,321,868,240.23. This trade represents a 0.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 372,609 shares of company stock valued at $87,647,208 over the last 90 days. 7.95% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Royal Caribbean Cruises declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on RCL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $232.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $204.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group upped 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. Bank of America increased their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, Mizuho restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $253.00 target price (down previously from $255.00) on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four investment 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 company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $284.12.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Company 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.