BMO Capital Markets Reaffirms “Outperform” Rating for Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL)

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $370.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 62.84% from the stock’s previous close.

RCL has been the topic of a number of other reports. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $350.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Freedom Capital lowered Royal Caribbean Cruises from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $327.00 to $362.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $410.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $353.40.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Trading Down 3.3%

NYSE RCL traded down $7.67 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $227.22. 4,832,682 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,524,672. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $287.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $282.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 0.21 and a quick ratio of 0.19. Royal Caribbean Cruises has a 12-month low of $222.22 and a 12-month high of $356.39. The firm has a market cap of $60.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.04, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.74.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $4.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.98 by $0.23. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a return on equity of 43.33% and a net margin of 23.54%.The firm had revenue of $4.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $4.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. 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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Royal Caribbean Cruises will post 17.78 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Royal Caribbean Cruises news, CEO Michael Bayley sold 12,811 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 22.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 6.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 36,165,358 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,088,156,000 after purchasing an additional 3,215,382 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises during the 2nd quarter valued at $6,549,422,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 20,176,544 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,627,669,000 after buying an additional 920,042 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,689,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,409,971,000 after acquiring an additional 270,930 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,054,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,961,758,000 after acquiring an additional 155,491 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.53% of the company’s stock.

More Royal Caribbean Cruises News

Here are the key news stories impacting Royal Caribbean Cruises this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The partnership expands Royal Caribbean beyond cruise ships into the Caribbean’s all-inclusive resort market, giving it exposure to land-based vacations and potentially broadening its customer relationships and revenue sources. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: The joint venture will combine Sandals and Beaches’ resort portfolio with Royal Caribbean’s cruise, private-destination and vacation operations, potentially creating cross-selling opportunities and a more integrated Caribbean travel offering. Royal Caribbean and Sandals partnership announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Royal Caribbean is making a large investment at a time when its latest quarter showed solid performance, including $4.21 in adjusted earnings per share and $4.83 billion in revenue. However, the deal’s contribution to earnings and the financing details have not yet been fully disclosed. Yahoo Finance article
• Negative Sentiment: Investors appear concerned that Royal Caribbean is paying $3 billion for a non-core expansion, which could increase financial leverage, reduce capital available for fleet investments or shareholder returns, and expose the company to resort-market risks. The stock’s decline reflects skepticism about the deal’s price and near-term strategic rationale. Barron’s article

About Royal Caribbean Cruises

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., now operating as Royal Caribbean Group, is a global cruise vacation company headquartered in Miami, Florida. The company provides cruise vacations and related travel experiences through a fleet of ocean-going ships serving destinations across the Caribbean, Europe, Alaska, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and other regions.

Royal Caribbean Group’s principal brands include Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea. Royal Caribbean International focuses on large-ship vacations featuring entertainment, dining, family activities and onboard attractions; Celebrity Cruises offers premium cruises; and Silversea specializes in luxury and expedition voyages.