BNP Paribas Financial Markets Reduces Position in Ryanair Holdings PLC $RYAAY

BNP Paribas Financial Markets cut its holdings in shares of Ryanair Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:RYAAY) by 76.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 96,664 shares of the transportation company’s stock after selling 311,426 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in Ryanair were worth $6,978,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. AdvisorShares Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Ryanair by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 18,145 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ryanair during the fourth quarter valued at $91,970,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in shares of Ryanair by 88.2% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 813 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its position in Ryanair by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 6,398 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flputnam Investment Management Co. boosted its position in Ryanair by 68.2% in the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 9,214 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $665,000 after purchasing an additional 3,735 shares during the last quarter. 43.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Eddie Joseph Wilson sold 21,080 shares of Ryanair stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.01, for a total transaction of $548,290.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 132,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,447,001.26. The trade was a 13.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CMO Dara Brady sold 8,973 shares of Ryanair stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.01, for a total value of $233,387.73. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 17,550 shares in the company, valued at approximately $456,475.50. The trade was a 33.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 111,607 shares of company stock worth $2,918,397.

Ryanair Price Performance

Shares of Ryanair stock opened at $58.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $58.24 and its 200 day moving average is $64.11. The stock has a market cap of $30.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.15. Ryanair Holdings PLC has a one year low of $53.14 and a one year high of $74.24.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 19th. The transportation company reported ($0.86) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.95) by $0.09. Ryanair had a return on equity of 25.58% and a net margin of 13.95%.The firm had revenue of $2.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.08 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ryanair Holdings PLC will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on RYAAY. Zacks Research cut Ryanair from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. 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. Weiss Ratings cut Ryanair from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, April 6th. Erste Group Bank cut Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $77.00 target price on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $77.67.

Ryanair Profile

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.