Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Receives $76.00 Average Target Price from Analysts

Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.00.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on RYAAY shares. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Ryanair from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Zacks Research lowered Ryanair from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ryanair from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday.

Ryanair Stock Down 1.0%

RYAAY stock opened at $68.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $35.85 billion, a PE ratio of 13.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.25. Ryanair has a 12 month low of $38.52 and a 12 month high of $74.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.68.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The transportation company reported $3.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.14. Ryanair had a net margin of 16.29% and a return on equity of 31.32%. The firm had revenue of $6.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.44 billion. Equities research 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. Investors of record on Friday, January 16th will be paid a $0.4545 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 16th. Ryanair’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.85%.

Institutional Trading of Ryanair

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Ryanair by 9.3% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 30,738,934 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,851,043,000 after acquiring an additional 2,626,911 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Ryanair by 2.7% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,465,187 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $2,250,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,457 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 861,361 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ryanair by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,800,393 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $161,499,000 after purchasing an additional 539,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its position in Ryanair by 315.0% in the 3rd quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 655,021 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $39,445,000 after purchasing an additional 497,174 shares during the last quarter. 43.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ryanair

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.