Royal Caribbean Cruises Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:RCL)

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Investors bought 26,614 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 227% compared to the average volume of 8,142 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $361.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $410.00 to $415.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $370.00 price target for the company. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $350.00 to $337.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Caribbean Cruises has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $353.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Royal Caribbean Cruises news, CEO Michael W. Bayley sold 12,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.99, for a total value of $4,048,147.89. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 45,297 shares in the company, valued at $14,313,399.03. This represents a 22.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.44% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Royal Caribbean Cruises

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RCL. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 34,251.2% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 118,498,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,626,692,000 after buying an additional 118,153,108 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in the 2nd quarter valued at $6,549,422,000. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 36,165,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,088,156,000 after acquiring an additional 3,215,382 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 2nd quarter worth about $669,804,000. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 2nd quarter valued at about $597,350,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.53% of the company’s stock.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:RCL opened at $265.26 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $300.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $288.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03. The company has a market capitalization of $70.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.39, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.75. Royal Caribbean Cruises has a 12-month low of $232.10 and a 12-month high of $362.79.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $4.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.98 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.82 billion. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a net margin of 23.54% and a return on equity of 43.33%. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $4.38 earnings per share. Royal Caribbean Cruises has set its FY 2026 guidance at 17.730-17.870 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 6.260-6.360 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Royal Caribbean Cruises will post 17.78 EPS for the current year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 17th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 17th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.08%.

About Royal Caribbean Cruises

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.