Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.75

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55.

Royal Caribbean Cruises has a dividend payout ratio of 12.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Stock Performance

RCL stock opened at $260.37 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $243.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $207.65. Royal Caribbean Cruises has a fifty-two week low of $113.10 and a fifty-two week high of $277.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a current ratio of 0.17 and a quick ratio of 0.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.01 billion, a PE ratio of 24.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.59.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company earned $1.25 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Royal Caribbean Cruises will post 14.96 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RCL has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $271.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Mizuho reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $253.00 price target (down previously from $255.00) on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $232.00 to $272.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Macquarie upped their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. 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, Royal Caribbean Cruises has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.12.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Royal Caribbean Cruises news, EVP Harri U. Kulovaara sold 3,256 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,243,287.76. This represents a 12.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen sold 139,353 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $237.89, for a total transaction of $33,150,685.17. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 18,167,507 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 372,609 shares of company stock worth $87,647,208. 7.95% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Royal Caribbean Cruises announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 1.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.