Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Royal Caribbean Cruises was upgraded from a "hold" to a "buy" rating by analysts at Wall Street Zen, indicating increased confidence in the stock's performance.
• Multiple brokerages have raised their target prices for the stock, with Stifel Nicolaus setting a new target of $420.00, reflecting strong market sentiment.
• Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises have shown an upward trend, trading at $326.50, up by 0.6% during recent trading sessions.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on RCL. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $330.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Loop Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $290.00 target price (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating and set a $385.00 target price (up previously from $275.00) on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $311.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $326.95.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of RCL traded up $1.97 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $326.50. The company had a trading volume of 1,302,966 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,817,898. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $334.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $277.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 2.12. Royal Caribbean Cruises has a 1 year low of $164.01 and a 1 year high of $366.50.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $4.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.04 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $4.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.54 billion. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a return on equity of 47.15% and a net margin of 20.97%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.21 EPS. Royal Caribbean Cruises has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.410-15.550 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 5.550-5.650 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Royal Caribbean Cruises will post 14.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Vagn O. Sorensen sold 10,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $330.04, for a total value of $3,399,412.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,414,966.28. The trade was a 38.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Henry L. Pujol sold 5,207 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $329.47, for a total value of $1,715,550.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 7,826 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,578,432.22. The trade was a 39.95% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 31,507 shares of company stock valued at $10,091,282. Company insiders own 6.95% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RCL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3.2% during the second 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 grew its holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 3.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,492,549 shares of the company's stock worth $3,293,302,000 after acquiring an additional 330,770 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 6.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,667,927 shares of the company's stock worth $2,079,877,000 after acquiring an additional 415,230 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 9.4% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,317,996 shares of the company's stock worth $1,038,997,000 after acquiring an additional 284,037 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Royal Caribbean Cruises during the second quarter worth $1,021,893,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.53% of the company's stock.

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.

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