Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on RYAAY. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $71.00 target price on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $73.50.

Ryanair Stock Performance

Shares of RYAAY stock opened at $70.49 on Tuesday. Ryanair has a 12-month low of $38.52 and a 12-month high of $74.24. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a market cap of $37.01 billion, a PE ratio of 14.15, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.25.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The transportation company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.16 billion. Analysts expect that Ryanair will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ryanair Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Investors of record on Friday, January 16th will be given a dividend of $0.4545 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 16th. Ryanair’s payout ratio is currently 13.65%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ryanair

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RYAAY. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ryanair by 658.1% during 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 period. Metropolis Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of Ryanair by 0.8% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Hilltop National Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ryanair during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $66,000. Ascent Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ryanair in the 2nd quarter valued at $295,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ryanair by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 72,032 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,154,000 after purchasing an additional 5,226 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.