Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $76.00.

A number of research firms have commented on RYAAY. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 9th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Ryanair from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ryanair

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD purchased a new position in shares of Ryanair in the 1st quarter valued at about $118,071,000. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Ryanair by 9.3% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 30,738,934 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,851,043,000 after buying an additional 2,626,911 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,002,457 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted 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 worth $42,041,000 after acquiring an additional 861,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Ryanair by 23.8% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,800,393 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $161,499,000 after acquiring an additional 539,256 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 43.66% of the company’s stock.

Ryanair Stock Performance

NASDAQ:RYAAY opened at $68.14 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $61.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.15. Ryanair has a 1-year low of $38.52 and a 1-year high of $68.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.99, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.39.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The transportation company reported $3.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.14. Ryanair had a net margin of 14.42% and a return on equity of 27.91%. The business had revenue of $6.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.44 billion. Analysts forecast that Ryanair will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Ryanair Company Profile

Ryanair Holdings plc, together with its subsidiaries, provides scheduled-passenger airline services in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and internationally. It is also involved in the provision of various ancillary services, such as non-flight scheduled and Internet-related services, as well as in-flight sale of beverages, food, duty-free, and merchandise; and markets car hire, travel insurance, and accommodation services through its website and mobile app.