Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

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

RYAAY has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Ryanair from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Ryanair in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ryanair in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Ryanair from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.50.

Ryanair Price Performance

NASDAQ RYAAY opened at $67.49 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.39 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Ryanair has a 12-month low of $38.52 and a 12-month high of $74.24.

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 forecast that Ryanair will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ryanair Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 14.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ryanair

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RYAAY. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 861,361 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Ryanair by 84.6% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,993 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $173,000 after acquiring an additional 1,372 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ryanair by 37.5% during the 2nd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 107,811 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $6,217,000 after purchasing an additional 29,380 shares during the period. GAM Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Ryanair during the second quarter valued at about $3,414,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in Ryanair by 94.1% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 174,323 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $10,053,000 after purchasing an additional 84,511 shares during the period. 43.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ryanair Company 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.