William Blair Has Positive Forecast for RCL Q2 Earnings

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) – Equities research analysts at William Blair lifted their Q2 2025 earnings estimates for Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research note issued on Tuesday, April 29th. William Blair analyst S. Zackfia now expects that the company will earn $4.03 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $3.98. The consensus estimate for Royal Caribbean Cruises’ current full-year earnings is $14.90 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Royal Caribbean Cruises’ FY2025 earnings at $15.30 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $18.23 EPS.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.02 billion. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a return on equity of 48.97% and a net margin of 17.46%. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.77 earnings per share.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on RCL. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $305.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Macquarie upped their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $250.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Argus increased their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $280.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $271.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $249.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $272.55.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:RCL opened at $220.84 on Thursday. Royal Caribbean Cruises has a 12-month low of $130.08 and a 12-month high of $277.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $209.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $227.00. 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 firm has a market cap of $59.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.66, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.26.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of RCL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises during the fourth quarter valued at about $707,833,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,072,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,476,003,000 after acquiring an additional 2,068,114 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 22,154.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,410,962 shares of the company’s stock valued at $289,868,000 after acquiring an additional 1,404,622 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3,544.4% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 963,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,166,000 after purchasing an additional 936,609 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 21.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,991,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $614,487,000 after purchasing an additional 535,043 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Royal Caribbean Cruises news, CEO Jason T. Liberty sold 58,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $261.95, for a total transaction of $15,193,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 143,214 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,514,907.30. This trade represents a 28.83 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Richard D. Fain sold 19,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.68, for a total transaction 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 $47,491,190.28. The trade was a 9.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 109,492 shares of company stock worth $28,571,705. 7.95% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Royal Caribbean Cruises declared that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 1.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. This is a positive change from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.06%.

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.