New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Has $2.60 Million Position in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board cut its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 11,250 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises were worth $2,595,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. D1 Capital Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3.8% during the third quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 1,570,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,502,000 after acquiring an additional 58,159 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 725,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,699,000 after acquiring an additional 3,800 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 2.3% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 591,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,918,000 after acquiring an additional 13,520 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 569,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,468,000 after acquiring an additional 18,868 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 10,599.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 409,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,696,000 after acquiring an additional 406,048 shares during the period. 87.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Price Performance

Royal Caribbean Cruises stock opened at $262.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.60, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.59. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has a 1 year low of $113.10 and a 1 year high of $277.08. The business has a 50-day moving average of $243.57 and a 200-day moving average of $208.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last posted 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 return on equity of 48.97% and a net margin of 17.46%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will post 14.96 EPS for the current year.

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

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.75 per share. This is a positive change from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s payout ratio is presently 20.58%.

Insider Transactions at Royal Caribbean Cruises

In related news, Director Richard D. Fain sold 19,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.68, for a total value of $5,005,260.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 185,021 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,491,190.28. The trade was a 9.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen sold 230,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $233.62, for a total value of $53,732,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,556,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,335,253,633.20. This represents a 1.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 392,109 shares of company stock worth $92,652,468. 7.95% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RCL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $245.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $253.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $253.00 price target (down from $255.00) on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $283.00 to $304.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Royal Caribbean Cruises currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.12.

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.