Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.75 Per Share

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 1.17%. 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. Equities 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 Price Performance

RCL stock traded down $0.56 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $256.11. The company had a trading volume of 1,542,507 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,296,539. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. The business has a 50 day moving average of $243.15 and a 200 day moving average of $207.31. Royal Caribbean Cruises has a fifty-two week low of $113.10 and a fifty-two week high of $277.08.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Royal Caribbean Cruises will post 14.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Caribbean Cruises

In other Royal Caribbean Cruises news, EVP Harri U. Kulovaara sold 3,256 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.62, for a total transaction of $763,922.72. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,348 shares in the company, valued at $5,243,287.76. This trade represents a 12.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen sold 230,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.62, for a total value of $53,732,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 18,556,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,335,253,633.20. This trade represents a 1.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 372,609 shares of company stock worth $87,647,208 over the last 90 days. 7.95% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RCL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $253.00 price objective (down previously from $255.00) on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Loop Capital started coverage on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. They set a “hold” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $250.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company 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.