Should You Avoid Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL)?

The Insider Monkey team has completed processing the quarterly 13F filings for the September quarter submitted by the hedge funds and other money managers included in our extensive database. Most hedge fund investors endured a torrid quarter, which certainly propelled them to adjust their equity holdings so as to maintain the desired risk profile. As a result, the relevancy of these public filings and their content is indisputable, as they may reveal numerous high-potential stocks. The following article will discuss the smart money sentiment towards Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL).

Is Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL) a good investment? The smart money is in a slightly pessimistic mood. The number of long hedge fund bets retreated by 2 lately. RCL was in 41 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. There were 43 hedge funds in our database with RCL positions at the end of the previous quarter. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity, but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED), Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP), and Cummins Inc. (NYSE:CMI) to gather more data points.

In the eyes of most investors, hedge funds are perceived as slow, outdated financial tools of years past. While there are greater than 8000 funds with their doors open today, We hone in on the leaders of this group, about 700 funds. It is estimated that this group of investors oversee bulk of the smart money’s total asset base, and by following their unrivaled investments, Insider Monkey has spotted numerous investment strategies that have historically beaten the S&P 500 index. Insider Monkey’s small-cap hedge fund strategy outperformed the S&P 500 index by 12 percentage points annually for a decade in their back tests.

With all of this in mind, let’s go over the fresh action surrounding Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL).

What have hedge funds been doing with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL)?

Heading into Q4, a total of 41 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were long this stock, a change of -5% from the second quarter. With hedge funds’ positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a few noteworthy hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

According to publicly available hedge fund and institutional investor holdings data compiled by Insider Monkey, Columbus Circle Investors, managed by Clifford Fox, holds the largest position in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL). Columbus Circle Investors has a $187.1 million position in the stock, comprising 1.5% of its 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Altimeter Capital Management, led by Brad Gerstner, holding a $110.6 million position; the fund has 7.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Some other members of the smart money that hold long positions include Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management, Brett Barakett’s Tremblant Capital and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.