Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) to Buyback $1.00 billion in Outstanding Stock

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 1.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on RCL. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $250.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $232.00 to $272.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Argus raised their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $280.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Macquarie raised their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.12.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:RCL opened at $262.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39. Royal Caribbean Cruises has a 1-year low of $113.10 and a 1-year high of $277.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.59. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $243.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $208.02.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last released 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 period last year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Royal Caribbean Cruises will post 14.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.75 dividend. This is a positive change from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.58%.

Insider Activity at Royal Caribbean Cruises

In related news, Director Richard D. Fain sold 19,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now directly owns 185,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,491,190.28. This represents a 9.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen sold 230,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,556,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold 392,109 shares of company stock worth $92,652,468 in the last quarter. 7.95% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.