Zacks Research Has Positive Outlook for RCL Q2 Earnings

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) – Equities research analysts at Zacks Research increased their Q2 2025 earnings estimates for Royal Caribbean Cruises in a research note issued on Tuesday, February 11th. Zacks Research analyst M. Kaushik now forecasts that the company will post earnings per share of $3.81 for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $3.20. The consensus estimate for Royal Caribbean Cruises’ current full-year earnings is $14.96 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Royal Caribbean Cruises’ Q3 2025 earnings at $5.69 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.50 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $14.43 EPS.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on RCL. Argus boosted their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $280.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $204.00 to $272.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $250.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $275.00 to $270.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $284.12.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE RCL opened at $260.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $70.01 billion, a PE ratio of 24.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.59. Royal Caribbean Cruises has a 1-year low of $113.10 and a 1-year high of $277.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $243.28 and a 200-day moving average of $207.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39.

Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.13. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a net margin of 17.46% and a return on equity of 48.97%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS.

Royal Caribbean Cruises announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 12th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 1.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 4th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a boost from Royal Caribbean Cruises’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.55. This represents a $3.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Royal Caribbean Cruises’s dividend payout ratio is 20.58%.

Insider Activity

In other Royal Caribbean Cruises news, EVP Harri U. Kulovaara sold 3,256 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $234.62, for a total transaction of $763,922.72. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,243,287.76. This trade represents a 12.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Arne Alexander Wilhelmsen sold 230,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $233.62, for a total value of $53,732,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,556,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,335,253,633.20. This trade represents a 1.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 372,609 shares of company stock worth $87,647,208 in the last three months. Company insiders own 7.95% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Royal Caribbean Cruises

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RCL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in the fourth quarter worth about $707,833,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,072,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,476,003,000 after acquiring an additional 2,068,114 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 138.9% during the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 864,049 shares of the company’s stock worth $199,327,000 after acquiring an additional 502,349 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 10,599.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 409,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,696,000 after acquiring an additional 406,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,969,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,373,856,000 after purchasing an additional 353,893 shares in the last quarter. 87.53% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Company Profile

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.