Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday.

RYAAY has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Ryanair from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.00.

Ryanair Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ RYAAY opened at $68.28 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market cap of $35.85 billion, a PE ratio of 13.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.72. Ryanair has a 12-month low of $38.52 and a 12-month high of $74.24.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The transportation company reported $3.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.44 billion. Ryanair had a net margin of 16.29% and a return on equity of 31.32%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ryanair will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ryanair Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.4545 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 16th. Ryanair’s payout ratio is currently 19.81%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in RYAAY. Capital World Investors grew its position in Ryanair by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 30,738,934 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,851,043,000 after purchasing an additional 2,626,911 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Ryanair by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,465,187 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,250,932,000 after buying an additional 1,002,457 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ryanair by 658.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 992,245 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $42,041,000 after acquiring an additional 861,361 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ryanair by 23.8% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,800,393 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $161,499,000 after acquiring an additional 539,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ryanair by 315.0% during the third quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 655,021 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $39,445,000 after acquiring an additional 497,174 shares during the last quarter. 43.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ryanair Company Profile

Ryanair Holdings plc is an Irish low-cost airline group headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1984, the company grew into one of Europe’s largest budget carriers by offering point-to-point scheduled passenger services with an emphasis on low fares, high aircraft utilization and rapid turnaround times. Ryanair serves a broad network across Europe and nearby regions, focusing on both intra-European leisure travel and short-haul business routes.

The group primarily operates a single-type fleet based on the Boeing 737 family, supplemented by a mix of in-house and subsidiary airlines that help serve different markets and regulatory environments.