Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on RYAAY. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Zacks Research downgraded Ryanair from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Ryanair in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Oddo Bhf raised shares of Ryanair from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ryanair presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $76.00.

Ryanair Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:RYAAY opened at $59.88 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Ryanair has a 52-week low of $38.52 and a 52-week high of $67.18. The stock has a market cap of $31.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.06, a PEG ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $61.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.42.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The transportation company reported $1.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.49 by $0.25. Ryanair had a net margin of 14.42% and a return on equity of 27.91%. The company had revenue of $5.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.16 billion. Equities analysts predict that Ryanair will post 3.09 EPS for the current year.

Ryanair Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th were issued a $0.534 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 12th. This is an increase from Ryanair’s previous special dividend of $0.47. Ryanair’s dividend payout ratio is 16.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ryanair

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Ryanair by 4.4% during the first quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 29,324,514 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,242,480,000 after acquiring an additional 1,233,059 shares during the period. Metropolis Capital Ltd increased its stake in shares of Ryanair by 0.8% during the second quarter. Metropolis Capital Ltd now owns 4,790,231 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $276,253,000 after purchasing an additional 36,559 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Ryanair by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,909,138 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $165,630,000 after purchasing an additional 266,343 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 539,256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD purchased a new position in Ryanair in the 1st quarter valued at about $118,071,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 43.66% of the company’s stock.

About Ryanair

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.