Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ:RYAAY - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $154.67.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on RYAAY shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Ryanair to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Ryanair to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 12th. Citigroup upgraded Ryanair to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. HSBC downgraded Ryanair from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on Ryanair from $149.00 to $147.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ryanair

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RYAAY. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Ryanair by 44.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 242 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Ryanair in the first quarter worth $90,000. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ryanair during the 1st quarter valued at $390,000. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its position in Ryanair by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 477,084 shares of the transportation company's stock valued at $69,422,000 after buying an additional 32,511 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co grew its holdings in Ryanair by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 23,578 shares of the transportation company's stock worth $3,433,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 43.66% of the company's stock.

Ryanair Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of RYAAY stock traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $45.10. The company had a trading volume of 902,063 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,634,760. The company has a market cap of $10.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. Ryanair has a 12 month low of $34.87 and a 12 month high of $60.29. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $110.71.

Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The transportation company reported $1.69 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.89 by ($1.20). Ryanair had a net margin of 12.07% and a return on equity of 20.43%. The firm had revenue of $3.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.32 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Ryanair will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ryanair Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a Variable dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a dividend of $0.692 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.8%. Ryanair's dividend payout ratio is 11.29%.

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.