WINTON GROUP Ltd Acquires 18,658 Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. $RCL

WINTON GROUP Ltd lifted its holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) by 1,231.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,173 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,658 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises were worth $6,528,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RCL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,066,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,728,810,000 after purchasing an additional 461,990 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 415,230 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in 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 during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises in the second quarter worth $1,021,893,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.53% of the company’s stock.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Performance

RCL stock opened at $278.32 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $304.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $302.08. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has a twelve month low of $164.01 and a twelve month high of $366.50. The firm has a market cap of $75.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.87.

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

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a $1.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.44%.

Royal Caribbean Cruises declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 10th that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $275.00 to $334.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $368.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. William Blair reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Tigress Financial upped their price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $373.00 to $383.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Sunday, February 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $348.29.

Insider Transactions at Royal Caribbean Cruises

In other news, CEO Jason T. Liberty sold 90,910 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $326.81, for a total transaction of $29,710,297.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 218,822 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $71,513,217.82. This trade represents a 29.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen sold 356,026 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $318.39, for a total transaction of $113,355,118.14. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,681,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,311,186,488.54. This represents a 2.09% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 1,967,319 shares of company stock worth $626,681,935 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.95% of the company’s stock.

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.