Insider Selling: Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Insider Sells $210,160.80 in Stock

Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) insider David Patrick Dpo O’brien sold 8,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.01, for a total transaction of $210,160.80. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 73,183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,903,489.83. This represents a 9.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Ryanair Stock Up 3.8%

RYAAY stock opened at $59.62 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $31.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.13. Ryanair Holdings PLC has a 52 week low of $53.14 and a 52 week high of $74.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $58.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $64.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 18th. The transportation company reported ($0.86) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.95) by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $2.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.08 billion. Ryanair had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 25.58%. On average, research analysts expect that Ryanair Holdings PLC will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ryanair

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RYAAY. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 861,361 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ryanair by 122.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 13,011 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $750,000 after purchasing an additional 7,152 shares in the last quarter. CW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ryanair in the second quarter valued at about $263,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ryanair by 99.7% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,029 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,013 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ryanair in the second quarter valued at about $295,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 43.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RYAAY has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore raised shares of Ryanair from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Ryanair from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, April 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Ryanair from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ryanair currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.67.

Ryanair News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Ryanair this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple Ryanair insiders sold shares, but the company said the transactions were related to tax withholding on vested equity awards, suggesting the activity may be routine rather than a negative signal. CEO Andreas Gruber sale filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Ryanair also reported a mixed quarterly update: earnings per share beat estimates, but revenue came in below expectations, leaving investors with a balanced read on operating performance. Ryanair earnings and stock information
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain generally constructive on Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: RYAAY), with several firms reiterating bullish ratings and an overall “Moderate Buy” consensus, which may be supporting the stock. Analyst ratings overview

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.