Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 162 Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL)

Sentry Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) by 14.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 992 shares of the company’s stock after selling 162 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises were worth $229,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. D1 Capital Partners L.P. grew its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3.8% during the third quarter. D1 Capital Partners L.P. now owns 1,570,262 shares of the company’s stock valued at $278,502,000 after acquiring an additional 58,159 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 725,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $128,699,000 after purchasing an additional 3,800 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 591,552 shares of the company’s stock valued at $104,918,000 after purchasing an additional 13,520 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 569,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,468,000 after purchasing an additional 18,868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 0.9% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 353,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,639,000 after purchasing an additional 3,235 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.53% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Royal Caribbean Cruises

In other Royal Caribbean Cruises news, Director Richard D. Fain sold 19,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 185,021 shares in the company, valued at $47,491,190.28. This trade represents a 9.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Laura H. Bethge sold 14,992 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $261.86, for a total value of $3,925,805.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 21,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,539,648.30. This represents a 41.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 109,492 shares of company stock worth $28,571,705 in the last 90 days. 7.95% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on RCL. UBS Group raised their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $271.00 to $301.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $253.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $232.00 to $272.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $290.00 target price on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $284.12.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Trading Up 0.1 %

RCL opened at $237.88 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a current ratio of 0.17. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $244.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $214.47. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has a one year low of $119.48 and a one year high of $277.08. The stock has a market cap of $64.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 2.59.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.13. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a return on equity of 48.97% and a net margin of 17.46%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will post 14.9 EPS for the current year.

Royal Caribbean Cruises announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 12th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 1.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This is an increase from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.06%.

About Royal Caribbean Cruises

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.