Sterling Financial Planning Inc. Invests $282,000 in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. $RCL

Sterling Financial Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RCL. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises during the first quarter worth $25,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises during the first quarter worth $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises during the second quarter worth $27,000. Optimum Investment Advisors bought a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises during the first quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group bought a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises during the second quarter worth $31,000. 87.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on RCL shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $230.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $385.00 price objective (up from $275.00) on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $290.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $302.00 to $367.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $390.00 to $399.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Caribbean Cruises has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.95.

Insider Activity at Royal Caribbean Cruises

In related news, CAO Henry L. Pujol sold 5,207 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.47, for a total transaction of $1,715,550.29. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,826 shares in the company, valued at $2,578,432.22. The trade was a 39.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Vagn O. Sorensen sold 10,300 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $330.04, for a total transaction of $3,399,412.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,414,966.28. This represents a 38.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 31,507 shares of company stock worth $10,091,282 over the last ninety days. 6.95% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Performance

RCL stock opened at $313.40 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.49, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 2.08. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has a 1 year low of $164.01 and a 1 year high of $366.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $329.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $286.54.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.04 by $0.34. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a return on equity of 47.15% and a net margin of 20.97%.The company had revenue of $4.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.54 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.21 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Royal Caribbean Cruises has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.410-15.550 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 5.550-5.650 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will post 14.9 EPS for the current year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 25th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is an increase from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 25th. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.99%.

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.