Royal Caribbean Cruises Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:RCL)

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 17,418 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 139% compared to the average volume of 7,295 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $275.00 to $334.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen cut Royal Caribbean Cruises from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $360.00 price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises in a report on Friday, October 31st. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $380.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Caribbean Cruises currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $348.29.

Institutional Trading of Royal Caribbean Cruises

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RCL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,021,893,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,604,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,270,252,000 after acquiring an additional 929,414 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 135.0% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,306,784 shares of the company’s stock valued at $366,925,000 after acquiring an additional 750,723 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 163.7% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,101,544 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,515,000 after acquiring an additional 683,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 560.9% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 676,645 shares of the company’s stock worth $218,949,000 after purchasing an additional 574,256 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.53% of the company’s stock.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Performance

NYSE:RCL opened at $347.86 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.18. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $289.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $303.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.86 billion, a PE ratio of 22.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.91. Royal Caribbean Cruises has a 52-week low of $164.01 and a 52-week high of $366.50.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. The firm had revenue of $4.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 billion. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a return on equity of 45.06% and a net margin of 23.80%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. Analysts forecast that Royal Caribbean Cruises will post 14.9 EPS for the current year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 14th. Investors of record on Friday, December 26th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 26th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s payout ratio is 25.62%.

Royal Caribbean Cruises declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 10th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to purchase up to 2.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Company Profile

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE: RCL), operating as part of the Royal Caribbean Group, is a global cruise company that develops, markets and operates passenger cruise ships. The company operates multiple consumer-facing cruise brands that offer short- and long-duration itineraries and a range of onboard experiences. Its core activities include itineraries and voyage operations, guest services and hospitality, onboard food and beverage, entertainment and recreation programming, and the commercial activities needed to sell and support cruises through both direct and travel‑agent channels.

Royal Caribbean’s ships serve a broad set of geographies worldwide, regularly deploying vessels in the Caribbean, North America (including Alaska), Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.