Brookstone Capital Management Purchases 2,846 Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. $RCL

Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) by 76.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,557 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,846 shares during the quarter. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises were worth $1,829,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 41,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,527,000 after purchasing an additional 6,865 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 207,555 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,891,000 after buying an additional 40,619 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG bought a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,014,000. Private Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,675,000 after buying an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AA Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.53% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on RCL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $371.00 to $376.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Mizuho set a $379.00 target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $380.00 target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a report on Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Royal Caribbean Cruises presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.30.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Performance

Shares of RCL opened at $273.90 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $299.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $292.72. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has a 52 week low of $164.01 and a 52 week high of $366.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 0.16 and a current ratio of 0.18.

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

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.44%.

Royal Caribbean Cruises declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 10th that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Laura H. Bethge sold 7,854 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $326.21, for a total transaction of $2,562,053.34. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 32,786 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,695,121.06. This represents a 19.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Maritza Gomez Montiel sold 1,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.18, for a total transaction of $453,144.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 12,849 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,203,935.82. This represents a 9.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,967,319 shares of company stock valued at $626,681,935. Company insiders own 6.95% of the company’s stock.

Royal Caribbean Cruises 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.