Shares in Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL) staged strong gains in heavy trade in Oslo on Thursday morning after the company had more than doubled quarterly dividend to $0.24 per share from $0.12.

The shares had risen 3.7% to NOK238.80 at mid-morning, local time. Volume was heavy, with about 336,000 shares having changed hands, markedly more than the 240,000 three month average daily figure.

“RCCL is not a dividend case, but you interpret that (the dividend increase) as a signal,” Kenneth Sivertsen cruise industry analyst at Arctic Securtities in Oslo, was quoted by imarkedet.no business news website as saying. The higher dividend sends a strong signal that return on equity would be good going forward, he stated.