Jones Financial Companies Lllp Raises Stock Holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. $RCL

Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) by 19.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,516 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,444 shares during the quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises were worth $8,994,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,604,177 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,270,252,000 after acquiring an additional 929,414 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,492,549 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,293,302,000 after purchasing an additional 330,770 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,667,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,079,877,000 after purchasing an additional 415,230 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,317,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,038,997,000 after buying an additional 284,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,021,893,000. 87.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Performance

NYSE:RCL opened at $328.77 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $89.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.06, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.91. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has a 1 year low of $164.01 and a 1 year high of $366.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $286.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $303.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 0.18 and a quick ratio of 0.16.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.80. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a net margin of 23.80% and a return on equity of 45.06%. The firm had revenue of $4.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will post 14.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 10th that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 26th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 26th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s payout ratio is 25.62%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on RCL shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $380.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Susquehanna set a $350.00 target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $310.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $380.00 price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $324.00 to $361.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Caribbean Cruises presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $347.81.

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.