Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $58.29, but opened at $65.77. Ryanair shares last traded at $65.1640, with a volume of 480,494 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on RYAAY shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $71.00 price target on shares of Ryanair in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Erste Group Bank lowered Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Evercore raised Ryanair from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.67.

Ryanair Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.26.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The transportation company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.08. Ryanair had a return on equity of 29.76% and a net margin of 15.04%.The firm had revenue of $3.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.16 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ryanair Holdings PLC will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RYAAY. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of Ryanair in the third quarter worth $26,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Ryanair by 280.6% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 472 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ryanair by 76.0% in the third quarter. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 484 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Ryanair by 1,057.4% in the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 544 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in shares of Ryanair by 2,929.4% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 515 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 43.66% of the company’s stock.

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.